Survivor Central Hub 4: Lost in Exile
by SSBFreak
Summary: Twenty user-submitted fancharacters from different franchises compete in a game of Survivor. Who will win and who will lose? Time to find out...
1. Day 0

**(Day 0)**

A helicopter floated around a large, deserted island, as if doing several fly-bys. The island was covered with lush jungle and beach and several birds flew overhead. After doing some more fly-bys, a camera switched scenes to go to a familiar dock, where a tall man with blonde hair, a red shirt and a dark red vest walked towards it.

"Welcome to the fourth season of Survivor: Central Hub. I'm your host, SSBFreak." The host greeted. "Over the next thirty-nine days, we will be having a competition of survival on this island between twenty different fancharacters from various franchises. At the end of those thirty-nine days, one of those twenty fancharacters will win the million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor."

As the host approached the dock, a cruise ship was seen and people were getting off of it one at a time. "However, over the course of the competition, these brave combatants will fall one by one until only one of them remains, and that person will be named the victor. This will be decided by Immunity Challenges, where the losing tribe of fancharacters will go to Tribal Council and vote one of their own out of the game." He continued. "Before we begin, let's introduce you to the twenty fancharacters that are duking it out with each other this time around."

The first contestant marched down the dock, revealing a robot girl with what looked like red, metallic hair and red armour. She had a stern look on her face.

**FRAN-CINE – FRIENDLY-CAP**

**MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT**

"Well, Fran-CINE. You're a robot, so I hope you can manage in a game like Survivor." SSBFreak said.

"I intend to. I'm the first one here, right?" Fran-CINE asked.

"Yeah?"

"Then there's no harm in telling you. I intend to prove robots' superiority over humans, and I also intend to show my human competition just how weak they can be." Fran-CINE said.

"Well, that IS why we cast you." SSBFreak shrugged. "Go over there for a moment while I introduce everyone else.

Fran-CINE walked to the side as the next person came down the dock. She was shown to be a young-looking woman with dark hair (with purple highlights). She wore a shirt and shorts that were half gray and half purple and wore a bowler hat.

**MONGO – COCONUT-MASTER**

**SUPER MARIO GALAXY**

"I hope you're ready for this, Mongo. This is Survivor, after all." SSBFreak said.

"I know that." Mongo said, an eyebrow lifted. "What kind of idiot wouldn't realize this is Survivor? That's what we signed up for."

"You'd be surprised." SSBFreak rolled his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Give it a moment. You'll find out."

Mongo paused, then shrugged, deciding not to press matters further. She walked over to Fran-CINE and stood beside her. Neither of the two spoke.

Coming down the dock next was what looked like a small boy with black hair, a headband and a gray jacket. His most-noticeable features were his huge eyes…

**BROCK – SHADOW0KNIGHT**

**POWERPUFF GIRLS**

"Brock, you look a little young. Do you think that will end up playing against you?" SSBFreak asked.

"Not in the slightest. I'm ready for this game and ready to go all the way." Brock nodded with a smirk. "I'll take whatever you throw at me."

"Good to see you're up to the challenge, but it's going to be a rough ride."

Brock nodded as he walked over to the others. He and Mongo greeted each other, while Fran-CINE remained quiet.

The next person came bounding down the dock, revealing himself to be a green and yellow weasel-like creature with earrings and a brown shirt. He looked overly happy.

**ROBERT – NECKY221**

**WINNIE THE POOH**

"This is Robert, a Woozle. As you can see, his personality contrasts what we've come to expect from the Woozles by now." SSBFreak said. "You hoping to have a good time out here, Robert?"

"Of course! I can't wait to get this thing started!" Robert said eagerly. "I know I'm going to have fun and I'm sure I'll get along with everyone on my tribe!"

"Just remember that you WILL need to vote people out sooner or later." SSBFreak reminded.

"Yeah, but hopefully, I won't have a hard time making my decisions." Robert nodded as he rushed over to the others. Brock smiled as he greeted Robert, although both Fran-CINE and Mongo were creeped out by now.

The next player to come down the dock was a young girl with green hair and a black and blue striped shirt. She looked a little like a goth, but it was hard to tell.

**ERICA – TOTAL FANATIC**

**JIMMY NEUTRON**

"I hope you're okay to do this, Erica. You look a little young." SSBFreak noted.

"You shouldn't be saying that when you consider the young people that did well here before." Erica noted, lifting an eyebrow.

SSBFreak paused, then shrugged. "Okay. You've got me there." He admitted. "So what will you bring to the table?"

"I'm smart, so I hope that my teammates won't overlook me in that department."

"We won't know until we decide the teams. Why don't you go over there and wait for a bit?"

Erica nodded and walked over, deciding to talk to Brock first since he was her height. "At least I'm not the only young one here." She noted.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Brock nodded.

Coming down the dock next was an older man with red hair, a long nose and a white baseball cap. He had a stupid expression on his face that didn't change.

**SALLY – CRAZYBOY3**

**HARRY POTTER**

"This is Sally, and yes, that's his name." SSBFreak said. "So Sally, what's going through your mind right now?"

"Where Vivor?" Sally asked.

"Uh…What?"

"Vivor. I thought the point of this game was to agree with a guy named Vivor." Sally said. "Isn't that what the show's called? 'Sure, Vivor'?"

SSBFreak blinked a couple of times. "Hey, look! There's some people over there! Why don't you go talk to them?"

"Oh! Great idea!" Sally said as he walked over to the other contestants.

Mongo could only stare dumbfounded. "Holy crap, he wasn't kidding." She said.

The next contestant was a tan-skinned woman with short, black hair and dark glasses. She wore a red top, dark pants and what looked like a red shoulder-pad, although it looked made of metal.

**ANGELA – WILDFOX03**

**FALLOUT 3**

"You should feel right in your element out here, Angela." SSBFreak said. "Heck, it'll probably be easier for you to survive since there's nothing out here trying to kill you."

"It's good to hear that, but I hope there will be SOME element of challenge out here." Angela said. "I didn't get to be a survivor in real life for sitting around a campfire, you know."

"I assure you, things will get difficult."

"Good." Angela said, forming a slight smirk as she walked over to the others and scanned them over.

"Hiya! I'm Robert! Hoping we'll have fun out here at all?" Robert said as he stepped up first.

Angela blinked, but decided not to press matters and walked past the cheery Woozle.

Coming down the dock next was a small panda girl with a pink shirt and blue pants. Her eyes were sparkling and she looked like a Japanese anime character.

**CHLOE – CHARMYNUTTY**

**DRAWN TOGETHER**

"Chloe, I understand that you're a Hello Kitty parody. What do you think your assets are?" SSBFreak asked.

"You kidding? I'm just CUTE! But I don't think people want to mess with me." Chloe said, her mouth moving out-of-sync with her words. "I have the potential to make people regret their choice of words around me."

"Well, we'll have to see about that if you have to cross that bridge." SSBFreak said.

Chloe nodded and walked over to the others. Sally stepped up first. "Oh! You're one of those 'Pan-derp' things, right?" He asked.

Chloe giggled. "You're kinda stupid, aren't ya?" She said cutely.

Fran-CINE leaned over to Mongo. "I hope he's not on my team." She noted.

Mongo smirked. "I dunno. I kinda hope he's on MINE." She mused, already thinking up ideas.

The next contestant was a red-haired fox girl with a blue top and cargo pants. Brock blinked in confusion, as he had seen someone that looked like that before.

**AMY – FULLMETALKONPAKU**

**TINY TOON ADVENTURES**

"You're one of this season's strongest players, Amy. You hoping you can get by with your strength?" SSBFreak asked.

"Sure, but I've got other skills as well." Amy said with a smirk. "If people see me as an asset because of my strength, then hey, I'm all for it."

"Well, I hope you can deliver. Just go over there and wait for the others for now."

Amy nodded and walked over, easily spotting Brock. "Hey, Brock. Long time, no see." She greeted.

Brock's eyes suddenly widened in recognition.

The next contestant was a gangly man with brown, spiked hair and a red shirt. He strolled down the dock in a laid-back posture.

**DANGLARS – ORANGE-RATCHET**

**WACKY RACES**

"Danglars, Survivor requires an impressive skill set to last. Do you think you can deliver?" SSBFreak asked.

Danglars gave a nod. "Of course I can. I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't comfortable that I could do it." He said.

"Oh, really? Judging by where you come from, I would have thought it was a dare or something." SSBFreak said with a smirk.

Danglars frowned. "Hey, I haven't been involved in any dares or anything!...Lately." He said as he walked past the host.

Chloe looked up at the tall man. "Wow! Hi, tall man!" She greeted.

Danglars looked down. "My. You're a cute one." He admitted.

Chloe giggled. "You know it! I like you!"

Angela lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Mongo, who simply shrugged.

Coming down the dock was a white-furred monkey with brown paws. People noticed that he wasn't wearing anything.

**KENDALL – BALOO-LOUIE**

**JUNGLE BOOK**

"I hope you're planning to impress out here, Kendall." SSBFreak said. "The last time we had a monkey on the show, it didn't end very well for him."

"Believe me. I know how to improve on what he did wrong." Kendall said. "I don't intend to go out first, you know."

"Just making sure. What do you think you can do to ensure your survival?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." Kendall said as he walked over.

Angela appeared to be in thought as Kendall came over. There was obviously something about him that bothered her…

Coming down the dock next was a tall, blonde girl wearing a cowboy hat, a red top and denim Daisy Dukes. She looked cheerfully, although not to the extent of someone like Robert.

**COREY – SWSU-MASTER**

**HARVEST MOON**

"Tell me, Corey. Are you in your element here or out of it?" SSBFreak asked.

"Oh, Ah'm in mah element, alright." Corey said in what sounded like a Southern drawl. "Ah mean, Ah had ta spend three nights in the chicken coop one time, and not because Ah wanted ta, but Ah HAD ta since Ah heard footsteps in mah house one night and was too afraid to go back in. Ah mean, if Ah had known it was mah dad sleepwalkin', Ah woulda stayed put, but…"

As Corey continued to talk, SSBFreak checked his watch. She kept talking.

"And then there was that time a cow kicked mah kid brother in the head. Golly, it prob'ly took about three weeks fer the cow's hoof ta heal properly." Corey said.

"Uh…If you don't mind, Corey? I need to introduce the remaining players." SSBFreak said.

"Oh! Sorry about that, y'all. Ah ramble sometimes." Corey chuckled as she walked by.

When Corey arrived at the others, she eagerly grabbed Danglars' hand and started shaking it, comically shaking him around as well. "It sure is nice ta meet y'all!" She greeted.

The next contestant was another shorter player, revealing himself to be a gray mole wearing green overalls. He didn't appear to be wearing much else, although people noticed that his right eye appeared slightly glazed over.

**ZEG – GRANTEE-77**

**EPIC MICKEY**

"Zeg, I know that you're half-blind. Do you think that's going to hinder your progress?" SSBFreak asked.

"Absolutely not. I'm still pretty strong despite my short stature, so I don't see how being half-blind would hold me back." Zeg insisted.

"Just making sure you know what you're getting yourself into." SSBFreak shrugged. "You can go over there and introduce yourself if you want."

Zeg nodded and walked over to the others. While most greeted him cheerfully or without hesitation, a few of the others appeared to be a little apprehensive about him.

"What good would a half-blind guy do?" Kendall mused.

"I DID hear that, you know." Zeg pointed out.

The next contestant was a green alien of short-to-moderate stature with large, red eyes. He wore a dark green shirt and wore a pair of beige pants. Despite his appearance, he looked relatively friendly.

**RIDDLE – JOHNKRICFAN**

**INVADER ZIM**

"Welcome to Survivor, Riddle. So what brings you here on this adventure?" SSBFreak asked.

"I hope to seek the answer to a riddle that has been bothering me: Is it possible for someone like me to survive in the wild for thirty-nine days?" Riddle replied.

"Well, I guess we're about to find out." SSBFreak nodded.

"It will take a long time, but I WILL answer this riddle." Riddle replied as he walked by the host and over to the others.

"Oh! You like riddles?" Sally asked. "I've got one that's been bothering me. What's black and white and red all over?"

"Uh…That would be a joke. Not a riddle." Riddle replied. "And by the way, the answer is a newspaper."

Sally blinked. "But paper isn't red…" Several of the others did a collective facepalm.

A small monkey came down the dock next. She was wearing a pink jacket and an orange skirt. Her light brown fur was done into two pigtails. As opposed to Kendall, who was lanky, she was relatively small.

**ANKE – TINYHAMMER/TINYROCKET**

**SUPER MONKEY BALL**

"You sure look excited, Anke." SSBFreak said to the clearly-excited monkey.

"Oh, yeah! This is awesome! I can't wait to get started!" Anke nodded. "When do we begin?"

"I've just got a few more people to bring in. Go over there for a moment, will you?"

Anke rushed over to the others and made a beeline for Chloe. "Oh, man! You are SO totally cute!" Anke said happily.

"I know! Thank you!" Chloe said, also happily. "You look pretty cute yourself!"

The two girls continued to excitedly compliment each other on how cute they were as almost everyone else looked uneasily at each other.

The next person to come down the dock was an older, balding man with a beard. He was wearing a headband, a polo shirt and some shorts. He looked pretty cheerful from first glances.

**GARY – SIVEL SAVVY**

**WALLACE & GROMIT**

"You're one of our older players this time, Gary. You think that's going to hurt you?" SSBFreak asked.

"If it does, it does. I'm sure I'll make the most of whatever comes at me." Gary shrugged with a smile.

"You sound pretty optimistic now." SSBFreak noted.

"I'm not one to get mad." Gary replied as he walked by. "I'm sure I'll get along with people."

"I don't like him already." Angela shook her head. "He's WAY too positive."

"And they AREN'T?" Amy asked, pointing at Robert and Corey.

"Touche."

Everyone stared with wide eyes as the next contestant hovered down the dock. It appeared to be a faceless robot with blue and silver trim, with a mechanical claw on its side. It didn't appear to have any legs, and was hovering mere inches off the ground.

**KENAL – KING-OF-DIAMONDS**

**DR. WHO**

"I still can't believe a Dalek expressed interest in coming on the show." SSBFreak said. "But you ARE a humanized Dalek, right?"

"Of course. I am not here to destroy humans." Kenal replied. "I am simply here to try and win to show that it is possible for a race of humanized Daleks to be around."

"Well, you put up with enough where you come from because of the Dalek reputation." SSBFreak shrugged. "Hopefully, you'll impress people here."

"I certainly hope so." Kenal said as he hovered over to the others.

"It took almost the entire cast, but finally another robot." Fran-CINE sighed.

"Wow! Cool arm!" Robert said as he looked at the claw at Kenal's side.

"It will allow me to carry things around and participate in lifting challenges." Kenal explained.

The next contestant was a lanky girl, or at least what looked like a girl. She had dark hair that covered a lot of her left eye, but people saw that her eyes were simply buttons, and her fingers were inhumanly long and gangly.

**SAMANTHA – PIKACHAO-OMEGA**

**CORALINE**

"Well, Samantha. You ready for this?" SSBFreak asked.

"Of course. When do we begin?" Samantha asked with a smile.

"In just a few minutes. I've just got two more people to introduce." SSBFreak said. "You can go over there and talk to the others until then."

"By all means, take your time." Samantha said as she walked over to the others.

Sally blinked. "Hey. You got something in your eye." He pointed out.

"Uh…I know." Samantha replied.

Danglars lifted an eyebrow and turned to Riddle. "Does she have button eyes?" He asked.

"Indeed she does. Most perplexing…" Riddle mused.

"Yeah…Whatever that means…"

The penultimate contestant came walking down the dock, revealing a teenage brunette girl to the others. She was wearing a yellow shirt and a pink skirt. She, like Gary, looked cheerful.

**TOMATO – HANKDROVER**

**TOKYO MEW MEW**

"Now, before I continue, I need to remind you, Tomato." SSBFreak said. "I know you have that gopher form of yours, but I don't want you transforming in the middle of a challenge. You can transform at camp if you want, but in challenges, you need to be in your normal form."

"Okay. Thanks for that. I was thinking I wouldn't be allowed to transform at all." Tomato nodded as she walked over to the others. "Am I the last one?"

"There's one more, actually." SSBFreak said.

"You have a second form?" Brock asked. "What does it do?"

"I can dig real well." Tomato pointed out. Zeg looked a little uneasy.

SSBFreak looked at his watch. "Where the heck is he?" He asked. "I know he wanted to make his own entrance, but this is just…"

Suddenly hearing a cheer, everyone looked up and saw someone falling towards the ground in a skydive. He hit the dock feet-first with a loud crash, but looked amazingly unharmed. He was revealed to be a brown-haired man with glasses, wearing a green jacket, a black shirt and green pants. He placed his hands on his hips and struck a pose.

**TEMPO – DRTEMPO**

**MEGAMAN ZX**

"ALOHA." Tempo greeted, forming a serious face. A plane was seen flying away in the distance.

Everyone stood in silence, staring at the newcomer strangely. Crickets were heard chirping, despite it being broad daylight.

"Uh…Okay." SSBFreak said. "What was the point in that?"

"I wanted to make a grand entrance, and I'd say I accomplished it." Tempo said with a smirk.

"Right. So what are you hoping to accomplish by playing this game?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'm here to win it, as I'm sure everyone else here is, and have a good time doing it." Tempo replied. "When do we start?"

"Just shortly. You're the last contestant." SSBFreak replied as Tempo walked over to join the others. "Now that all twenty of you are here, I can split you all into teams. If you'll just follow me."

The twenty players followed the host onto the beach and over to where two mats were laying. One was light blue and the other was bright yellow.

"However, we're going to do things a little differently this time." SSBFreak said as he pulled a small bag from behind his back. "In this bag are twenty rocks. I want each of you to pull one out without looking and keep it concealed for now."

One by one, the twenty players reached into the bag and pulled out a rock. They all lined up in two rows of ten in front of the mats.

"Here's how it's going to work. There are eighteen uncoloured rocks, one blue and one yellow. Whoever has the coloured rocks will be the first members of their teams and will choose the remaining members of their tribes." SSBFreak said. "Okay…Reveal!"

Everyone revealed their rocks and saw what they were holding. Most of the players had uncoloured, gray rocks.

"I have the blue rock." Angela said.

"And I have the yellow one." Tempo added.

"Okay. That means that Angela is the first member of the blue tribe and Tempo is the first member of the yellow tribe. If you two will go to your mats." SSBFreak said as Angela and Tempo went to their mats. "Okay. You will now alternate choosing teammates, but remember than you have to choose someone of the opposite gender as yourself, and then alternate. Angela, you go first. Choose a male."

"I'll take the kid with the big eyes." Angela said.

"Brock, you go join Angela." Brock nodded and rushed over. "Tempo, choose a female."

"Gladly. The girl with button eyes." Tempo replied.

"Samantha is now on the yellow tribe."

"Thank you for choosing me so quickly." Samantha said.

"Angela, you can now choose a girl."

Brock quickly whispered something into Angela's ear. "Yes. You may have a point. I'll take the redhead fox girl."

"Amy is now on the blue team." Amy nodded and went over. "Tempo, choose a male."

"I choose the guy with the beard." Tempo said.

"Gary is now on the yellow team." Gary nodded and went over to join the others. Angela, pick a male. Tempo, pick a female."

"The tall one with spiky hair." Angela said.

"The monkey girl." Tempo added.

"Danglars is on the blue tribe, and Anke the yellow." SSBFreak said. "Switch genders again."

"The cowgirl." Angela replied.

"The happy-looking thing in the brown shirt." Tempo said.

"Corey to the blue; Robert to the yellow." SSBFreak said. "Again."

"I'll take the mole." Angela said.

"The panda." Tempo said.

"Zeg to the blue; Chloe to the yellow." SSBFreak said. "Again."

"The robot girl." Angela said.

"The green alien." Tempo said.

"Fran-CINE to the blue; Riddle to the yellow." SSBFreak continued. "Again."

"The other robot." Angela said.

"The girl with the green hair." Tempo said.

"Kenal to the blue; Erica to the yellow." SSBFreak said. "Again."

"The girl with the bowler hat." Angela said.

"The guy with the girl's name." Tempo said.

"Mongo to the blue; Sally to the yellow." SSBFreak said. "By default, that means that Kendall is going to the blue team and Tomato to the yellow team."

The remaining players went over to their mats and joined their new tribes.

"Okay, so for a reminder, here's what we've got." SSBFreak said. "On the blue tribe is Angela, Brock, Amy, Danglars, Corey, Zeg, Fran-CINE, Kenal, Mongo and Kendall. You ten will be the Ventala Tribe."

"Works for me." Danglars shrugged. Most of the others agreed.

"On the yellow team we have Tempo, Samantha, Gary, Anke, Robert, Chloe, Riddle, Erica, Sally and Tomato." SSBFreak said. "You ten will be the Ferren Tribe."

"I've got no problem with it." Gary shrugged.

"You wouldn't." Samantha noted.

"Also true."

"To help you reach your camps, here are some maps. In addition, I'm giving you all flint to start off with, rather than have it a reward in a challenge." SSBFreak said as he tossed a couple of maps and some flint to the newly-formed teams. The original members, Angela and Tempo, caught them. "I'll contact you guys via treemail about any and all future challenges. I wish all of you luck, because remember that you're going to need it."

The two new tribes walked off in opposite directions, following their maps to their new camps and starting the competition officially once again.

"39 Days…20 Castaways…And one Sole Survivor!"


	2. Days 1 to 3

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 1)**

"Looks like this is it." Angela said as she led her tribe into camp.

The Ventala Camp was more like a clearing just off the shore of the island. However, there was a small lake in the middle of the camp, with a small river connecting it to the ocean just outside the campgrounds. In addition to the fact that jungle was surrounding the camp, there were some single trees scattered around the side to provide a bit of shelter.

"I think we got it pretty good." Danglars nodded. "Can't really complain about this."

"Yeah. I like it." Zeg nodded.

"I love the lake. At least we can swim if we wanted to let off some steam." Brock pointed out.

"First things first. We need to build the shelter." Danglars said.

"I think we passed a pile of lumber coming into camp." Kenal pointed out. "I say some of us gather some lumber and the others work on the fire pit."

"Works for me." Zeg nodded.

"_I think we got a good camp, so luck was on our side when we ended up on this tribe. A couple of the others are already excited that we got our own lake." Zeg pointed out. "I think we'll be happy with it for a while before the reality of the competition starts to set in."_

Amy turned to Angela as the two tried to decide where to build the shelter. "Just out of curiosity, what made you choose the people you did?" She asked.

"To be honest, I wanted to pick the people I thought looked strongest." Angela said. "I'm glad the other leader didn't pick you first, though. You were my first choice for a female tribe-member since you looked the strongest."

"I appreciate that."

"_My goal here is to align with the strongest people and cut the weak. It takes a lot of strength and willpower to do some of the things I see people do where I come from." Angela explained. "If you look like you aren't going to last out in the wild, I won't hesitate to cut you from the pack."_

"I think this place could be good." Amy pointed out. "It's near the water, but not close enough for the supplies to get wet."

"Yes. I think you may be right about that." Angela said. "Okay. You see if you can find some people to help us gather supplies while I see who wants to build a fire-pit."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get on that." Amy nodded as she walked off, unaware that the conversation she had was being watched.

"Now the fun begins." Fran-CINE said as she gave chase.

"_Things were going smoothly when we got to camp." Amy said, a little suspiciously. "A little TOO smoothly, if you ask me…"_

"_My mission is simple: To make these flesh-bags realize that robots are superior." Fran-CINE explained. "If I have to make them all miserable in the process, that makes things even better for me."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 1)**

"Okay, people! We're here!" Tempo explained as he led his tribe into camp.

Like the Ventala Tribe, the Ferren Tribe looked more like a clearing, and had trees scattered around. The only major difference between the two camps was that the Ferren Tribe had a smaller lake, but had a small waterfall leading down into it to make up for it.

"Oh, my gosh! We've got a waterfall!" Anke cheered. "We've actually got a waterfall!"

"Oh, boy! Let's go jump off it!" Robert agreed.

"Hold it, you two!" Samantha said. "Don't you think we should focus on building a shelter, first?"

"Yeah. I'm with her." Tempo nodded.

Anke and Robert pouted. "Fine." They said.

"_It's kind of funny seeing some of our tribe wanting to go straight for the waterfall, and while I agree that jumping off it today would be fun, we need to build a shelter first." Tempo said. "Once we get that done so we can have a place to sleep tonight, then we'll have all the fun we want to celebrate actually getting on the show."_

Due to them not being as strong as the others who were gathering supplies for the shelter, Riddle, Erica and Chloe were gathering stones to make a fire pit.

"You sure we need one of these? It doesn't seem practical." Chloe pointed out.

"The pit for the fire is as essential as the building that shelters us, Chloe. This will keep us warm when the night is cold and it will prepare any meals we have." Riddle explained.

"Meals of what?" Erica asked with a lifted eyebrow. "Fruit?"

"_I had no issues or difficulties with putting the pit for the fire together, but I feel I required more assistance." Riddle pointed out. "Chloe did not seem to know why we require the pit and the girl with green hair did not appear to care. The question is how they think people will keep them around because of that."_

"_I know I don't show it, but I'm excited to be here. I just prefer to be left alone when the place is crowded." Erica said. "I don't work well with large groups of people and think that they can get things done with or without me."_

Meanwhile, some of the others were gathering supplies for the shelter. Tempo handed a large piece of lumber to Gary, who easily took it. "You sure you're okay with that?" Tempo asked.

Gary laughed. "Yeah. I got this. Quit worrying." He assured as he walked away. "Where are we building the shelter?"

"At the top of the small cliff where the waterfall is."

"_People may underestimate me because I'm a little older, but I'm a lot stronger than I look. You need good arm strength to work as a window-cleaner, after all." Gary said with a smile. "If I can show my tribe that I'm an asset, they'll keep me around."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"Golly, this sure is fun! This'll be just like the time Ah had ta build a shack outta old firewood because mah uncle accidentally burned it ta the ground when he was drunk!" Corey laughed as she carried some lumber ahead of the others, unaware that no one was listening. "Man, we had ta rebuild that shack five times bah the time it burned down again! We keep a spare pile-a wood near-bah just in case he does it again!"

Amy picked up some lumber as she passed Brock, who was doing the same despite him being of such short stature. "Thanks for getting Angela to pick me right away, Brock." She said.

"No problem. You were probably her first choice anyway." Brock said. "But since we're alone, how about an alliance? We'll work together this time."

"Sure. I'm up for it. It'll be good working together as opposed to against each other." Amy shrugged.

"_I almost thought she was a lookalike at first, but when Amy addressed me at the dock, I knew it was her. She and I were on this other Survivor thing a while back: Survivor Fan Characters." Brock explained. "We were against each other there, so I wanted to make sure I was on her tribe this time. The last thing I want is to go against someone like Amy in challenges."_

As the group was carrying supplies towards the shelter site, Fran-CINE crept towards a pile of wood that had already been dropped off. Grabbing one of the pieces, Fran-CINE snapped a good portion of it off and tossed it aside before making herself scarce.

Shortly afterwards, Mongo came back to the site with a couple of rocks for the fire pit and saw that one of the pieces had been broken. "Hey, rodent-boy! Keep your wood-biting tendencies to yourself! We don't have an unlimited supply of lumber, you know!" Mongo called out.

"I'm a MOLE. Not a beaver." Zeg pointed out.

Mongo blinked. "Fine. Just…Don't eat the lumber!" She said.

"_I'll be honest: I don't really care much for my tribe. I'll probably have more fun making fun of them behind their backs." Mongo shrugged. "However, I don't like the fact that someone appears to be eating the wood that's being collected. This shelter's going to be keeping us dry in the rain, and I want it to work."_

"_That Mongo woman proves my point: Humans are inferior." Fran-CINE said. "Perhaps this could be more entertaining than I originally thought…"_

Kenal was hovering towards the shelter site with some lumber (in his mechanical claw arm) when he saw Kendall quietly gathering some rocks. Deciding to give the monkey some company, the Dalek hovered over after dropping the lumber off.

"I noticed that you haven't said much since we got here." Kenal pointed out. "What's on your mind, simian?"

"Nothing. I've just been doing a lot of thinking." Kendall said. "As of now, I'm trying to decide which of you guys are trustworthy."

"Isn't it a little too early for that?" Kenal asked.

"For a being of advanced technology, you don't seem to grasp the concept of Survivor." Kendall pointed out.

"_Actually, I've been going through a few ideas. I need to find someone willing to take me in; Someone who will end up with a target on their backs for being a leader." Kendall said. "I don't like anyone here, but if someone's willing to let me play them a little while, then I'll join them for a bit. Just don't expect to see me trying to make alliances on my own. Like I said, I don't like anyone here."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"Can I talk to you guys for a minute?" Samantha asked Robert and Sally as she walked over to them.

"Sure, Sammy! What would you like?" Robert asked.

Samantha decided to ignore the nickname. "I want to join an alliance, and you two look like you could use an extra set of hands." She said.

"And with hands the size of yours, imagine what we could get done!" Sally said.

"_I think it's no surprise to the average person that I'm not as nice as I appear to be. These buttons I have for eyes should show you that I'm made for evil purposes." Samantha said. "That's why I want to join an alliance with the dumbest people I could find, and what do you know, I end up with TWO of them on my tribe."_

"People may say that I'm evil, but I want you guys to know that it's not true." Samantha said. "I'm not like that Molly girl from that past season."

"Who?" Sally asked. "I don't know any Molly."

"It was a previous contestant, Sally-Mander!" Robert laughed.

Sally laughed. "Oh! That's probably why I don't remember her!" He realized.

"_I like it out here. Everyone's so nice and I was able to get in a good alliance on the first day out here! Not many people can say they did that!" Robert said happily. "Samantha and Sally are super-nice and super-fun to be around, so I know I'm going to have a great time!"_

"_I like the name Molly. Do you like the name Molly?" Sally asked._

Suddenly, Anke and Chloe hit the water of the lake, having leapt off the waterfall. The two small girls' heads bobbed out of the water as they laughed.

"That was so much fun!" Anke cheered.

"I know! Let's do it again!" Chloe said.

"CANONBALL!" The two girls heard as they looked up in time for Tempo to hit the water, having leapt off the waterfall himself. The two girls got splashed as they climbed out of the lake.

As they were going up the hill to the top of the cliff, the two girls passed by Tomato, who was still working on the fire pit. "Come on, Tomato! Come for a swim! It's fun!" Anke said.

"Uh…I'm not that good of a swimmer." Tomato explained, her eyes starting to water. She tried to hold it in.

Chloe pouted. "You're no fun." She said as she dragged Anke away to jump off the waterfall again.

"_Man. It's too bad Tomato can't swim. I think having your own lake is an awesome part of being on Survivor." Anke said. "I feel sorry for her…Maybe I can teach her how to swim while we're out here!"_

"_I wasn't lying when I said I can't swim, but I'm also allergic to fur of any kind. For that, I guess I should be thankful only three people with fur ended up on my tribe." Tomato explained. "I mean, I have nothing against furries, but my eyes start to water uncontrollably when I get near them. I literally can't help it!"_

Night eventually rolled in. The two tribes went to bed, anticipating the next day and knowing that the competition had only just begun.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 2)**

"What the heck happened to the fire pit?" Angela asked.

The fire pit that had been constructed the day before was a wreck. All of the stones were scattered around and the wood they were going to use for a fire was soaking wet.

"Aw, heck! We musta spent hours getting those stones together!" Corey said.

"_When we woke up this morning, the fire pit was in shambles, and we made sure we put it together right yesterday! One of us must have gotten up in the night and taken it apart!" Angela said. "It may seem like a childish prank to them, but I for one don't find it the least bit funny."_

"How do we know it wasn't one of you two?" Mongo asked Fran-CINE and Kenal. "You guys are machines! You don't need to sleep!"

"It's called going into standby mode." Fran-CINE said, arms folded. "It recharges energy for the following day in a similar manner of this 'sleep' you humans do."

"It's not like things are too out of order though, right?" Kenal asked as he hovered over to a rock and picked it up with his claw. "The rocks are all in the area."

"It doesn't change the fact that someone was obviously responsible for doing it." Amy said. "Look. The firewood's completely soaked."

"But who the heck would try to sabotage their own TEAM after ONE DAY?" Danglars scratched his head.

Fran-CINE avoided eye contact with the others, but did so without looking suspicious.

"_I don't get this type of strategy, if you can even call it that. Whoever tampered with our fire pit did it just after we started." Danglars said. "Honestly, it makes me feel like that Russell creep from the real show is hiding here somewhere, trying to make us all miserable."_

"_I'll agree that whoever did this was out of line, but the damage isn't bad. The fire pit can easily be put back together and I will personally get more firewood if it makes anyone feel better." Kenal pointed out. "If anything, I want to show everyone that it wasn't me who did this."_

Zeg quickly grabbed a couple of the rocks and put them back in the pit. "We may as well make the best of things and try to put it back together." He said. "I don't think it'll take that long to do."

"Yeah. We may as well git it rebuilt." Corey agreed as she joined Zeg.

"_Man. If there's one thing Ah learn from back home, it's that ya need ta roll with what comes yer way and learn to work with it." Corey said. "We ain't getting' nowhere lookin' at the wrecked fire pit, so we may as well just put it back together."_

The others quietly agreed and started gathering rocks. Fran-CINE even joined in, although it was more to take attention off herself.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 2)**

"Sally, we have enough rocks." Tempo said as he saw the older man coming over with another armload of rocks. "Heck, we finished the fire pit last NIGHT."

"I know. I just really like rocks!" Sally said. "I just wanna cuddle and hug them until they hatch into bouncing, baby golems!"

Tempo blinked. "Uh…Yeah. I'm going to go over there, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, Tempest!" Sally said as he waved to Tempo's retreating form, unknowingly dropping the rocks he was carrying in the process.

"_Okay. Seriously. There's dumb, and then there's beyond hope. How can Sally even BE this dumb?" Tempo asked. "Half of me is wondering if he's putting on an act, but the other half argues that no one would have the patience to do it for the entire competition."_

"_What was I doing before Tempest walked away? I can't remember…" Sally scratched his head. "Something about golems…But I don't know why he would talk about that. Golems aren't found in these parts…"_

Tempo walked over to the shore of the small lake, where Anke and Chloe were sitting. "That guy is a complete moron." He moaned.

"Uh…Yeah. That's kinda why we haven't really talked to him." Chloe replied. "He made himself look enough of an idiot on the dock."

"I've seen him hanging around Samantha and Robert, though." Anke pointed out. "So that means that it's possible to befriend him."

"I'm not sure if it's that simple." Tempo mused.

"_I don't align with people I think are scary or creepy. That's why I've been avoiding Sally since we started." Chloe said. "I want to see if we can get rid of him, because he just really makes me uneasy."_

Meanwhile, Gary and Riddle were off trying to gather fruit from one of the trees as Erica was sitting nearby. Gary grabbed the tree and shook it, causing a few pieces of fruit to fall into Riddle's arms.

"Do you suppose you can assist me, Erica?" Riddle asked.

"Sure. I'll lend a hand." Erica nodded as she got up and walked over.

"You impress me, Gary. You show surprising strength for someone in their forties." Riddle said.

Gary gave a shrug. "I've never really noticed. I guess I've just always been like this." He said.

"_Coming into this, I wanted to form an alliance with some people as soon as I could. The obvious problem was deciding who to align with." Riddle said. "However, Gary has proven to be a strong, dependable player, and Erica looks like she's needing an alliance, so I think I may have found a solution to the problem."_

Riddle paused in thought. "While we're alone, I suggest a form of strategy where we team up to vote out the other people." He said.

"An alliance?" Erica asked. She paused in thought. "Okay. I'm in."

"Yeah, but we're going to need more votes." Gary nodded.

"_I want to make sure that I'm in an alliance of trustworthy people, and even though we haven't been playing long, I think I'm making the right choice." Erica said. "Gary's obviously a nice guy and Riddle seems like a good guy as well, but now there the problem of finding trustworthy people that can vote with us."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_I decided to wait until the alliances were formed around here before trying to make my move to join them." Kendall said. "I don't want to make the move to get attached to any of these people since I'll be voting them out soon enough, so I'd prefer to join a pre-formed alliance."_

Kendall saw the trio of Danglars, Kenal and Mongo standing aside and made his way over to them.

"I propose an alliance. I know it may be early, but you've seen the other alliance, right?" Danglars said.

"Indeed. Angela joined up with Amy and Brock fairly quickly." Kenal agreed. "We need to counteract it somehow."

"We don't really have much of a choice, and to be frank, I dislike you guys the least." Mongo said.

"Thanks…Uh…I think." Danglars said.

"_I didn't really want to have to worry about forming alliances right off the bat, but Angela made the first move." Mongo said. "Unfortunately, she just so happened to form an alliance with two of our strongest players, so going after any of them this early is retarded. We'll need a better target."_

"You guys looking for an extra set of hands?" Kendall asked as he came over.

"A little extra help is always welcome, but remember that the others will likely be targeting people like you first." Danglars said.

"Then I guess I need to make them focus on someone else, then." Kendall said.

"_I think adding a fourth person to the alliance will be good for us in the long run. One more person and we'd have half the tribe." Danglars said. "However, we know that none of us are the strongest people here, so we'll need to find a way to either stay alive or slip past everyone else."_

"We should decide on a target." Kenal said. "Aside from the four of us and the strong alliance, the only ones we have to choose from are Corey, Fran-CINE and Zeg."

"Forget about Corey. She's too strong to vote out this early." Mongo said. "I say we just cross that bridge when we get there."

"_It sucks that we formed an alliance and our biggest competition here will be the three strongest players. Like I said, I really didn't want to have to do this so early." Mongo sighed._

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_It's good that I was able to form an alliance with a couple of idiots, but I need some more votes to have the majority." Samantha said. "However, people will be suspicious of me, so I need to send Robert and Sally to do a bit of recruiting."_

"Okay. Robert, you go see if you can get a few votes from the others." Samantha instructed. "We need to try and get more people to side with us."

"Okay! But if they ask me who sent them…" Robert checked.

"Don't mention me." Samantha reminded.

"Got it! Be right back!" Robert said as he bounded off.

Sally looked at Samantha after Robert left. "What do I do?" He asked.

"Just stand there and look stupid, because that's all you seem to know how to do." Samantha said.

"Okay!" Sally said as he stood still. "I'm helping!"

"_I like helping any way I can in an alliance!" Sally said happily._

Meanwhile, Robert saw that Tomato was alone and rushed over. "Heya, Tom-Ah-To!" He greeted.

"Um…It's Tomato." Tomato pointed out quickly, her eyes already starting to water.

"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to join an alliance. If you did, we'd have a bunch of people and I'm trying to get more and more friends out here!" Robert explained. "Did you want to join me?"

Tomato felt a sneeze coming on and tried to hold it in to be courteous to Robert, but she couldn't manage. As soon as Tomato sneezed once, she started sneezing multiple times, which in turn proved to be uncontrollable for her.

"You catching a cold?" Robert asked concernedly. "That's too bad because we just started. I hope you feel better soon."

Tomato couldn't answer. She was too busy sneezing.

"Well, just think it over, okay? I need to talk to other people now." Robert said as he rushed off. Almost instantly, Tomato's sneezing stopped.

"_I don't like seeing people sneeze so much. It makes me realize that they're not well and I hate seeing people sick." Robert said. "I felt bad for leaving her like that, but Samantha told me to find and many people as I could."_

"_I hate my allergies, and they definitely hate me." Tomato sighed._

Night rolled in again before too long. Knowing that there was a challenge the following day, everyone went to bed.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 3)**

"_We've got our first challenge coming. Time to show what we can do. All I need to do is hope that it focuses on brawns." Brock said. "We have the other tribe beat for strength; That much I know. However, we don't know who has the high ground in any of the other factions."_

"If we lose, who do you think we should target first?" Brock asked.

"We'll have to see how well we fare in the challenge before we can decide who the weak links are." Angela said. "For now, we'll look at the people like the monkey, the mole and the floating robot."

"You sure about Kenal, though? He was lifting a lot yesterday." Brock asked.

"Like I said, we'll see how he fares. It's too early to tell."

"_Angela is uneasy not knowing who the weaker players are on the tribe. I can tell it's going to be interesting here." Amy sighed. "I'll let Angela do what she needs for a bit, but if things get too out of hand and she goes after the wrong people, I may have to step in and help out."_

Zeg walked up to the shelter, where Fran-CINE was. "You ready for the challenge today?" He asked.

"It can't be done with any sooner. I'd much rather get this day over with." Fran-CINE replied.

"You know, you haven't really done a whole lot since we started." Zeg pointed out. "Just letting you know that you may want to change that before people start coming after you."

"I'll do what I want and I don't take orders from a fleshbag!" Fran-CINE snapped.

"Okay, okay." Zeg said as he walked away.

"_Yeesh, I was just trying to be nice and warn her. There was no reason to get snappy at me. Then again, maybe she knows she'd be in trouble and is just mopey about it." Zeg shrugged._

"_I don't care how badly I came off; I didn't come here to make friends with these people." Fran-CINE said. "I came here to make them all miserable, but they didn't react as strongly as I would have liked to me destroying the fire pit. This could take a little more strategy…"_

"We've got our first treemail, guys!" Danglars called out as he came into camp. The others eventually gathered around him.

"So what've we got up first, spiky?" Mongo asked, arms folded.

"It's asking if we can keep a burning torch dry." Danglars replied.

"Doesn't sound like it involves strength." Angela cursed. "Not good."

"We're gonna have to see if there's something ELSE we can beat the other guys in." Mongo said with a smirk.

"_Going to a challenge gives me the chance to get to know the other team, and then I can taunt the ones I don't like behind their backs." Mongo said. "I know they have that idiot with the girl's name, but I'm not as familiar with the others…"_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 3)**

"But there wasn't three of them in the box."

"It's TREEMAIL! Not THREE-MAIL!" Tempo's voice was heard.

Everyone watched as Sally came back to camp with a letter in his hand, scratching his head. However, he kept insisting that they couldn't go to the challenge yet because not all three of the letters were there.

"What kind of a word is 'treemail', though?" Sally asked. "Honestly, Three-Mail makes a whole lot more sense."

Tempo blinked. "It makes NO sense!" He said.

"_What is WITH that guy? Is he putting on a big act or is he really that dumb?" Erica asked._

_Sally sat on a log, looking at the cameraman. He paused for a moment before pointing at the screen. "I don't know if you noticed, but you have a real big electronic device growing out of your face." He said._

"Just…Just give me the mail so I can read it!" Tempo said.

"But we still need to wait for the other two letters…" Sally said before Tempo finally managed to wrestle the letter from his hands.

"It's time for our first challenge. It's asking if we can keep a burning fire dry." Tempo explained.

"It appears to be rather vague. I certainly hope this doesn't involve a lot of physical strength." Riddle said. "It's no mystery that the other tribe has all of the stronger people."

"You got that right." Samantha shook her head.

"_Okay! Time for our first Immunity. If we can win this, it'll help us for whenever we come across a challenge that actually involves strength." Chloe said. "But how can we win…Oh! Maybe my cuteness will distract the other team!"_

"So should we head out, then?" Chloe asked. "The other team's probably going to be heading there as well."

Everyone agreed as they started walking out of camp. Everyone except Sally, that is…

"But we need to wait for the other two letters!" Sally insisted.

Gary silently came back to camp, grabbed Sally and carried him out of camp under his arm.

"_Honestly, it was getting annoying, even to me." Gary shrugged._

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The two tribes emerged from the jungle and onto the beach. Seeing their tribe mats on the shoreline, everyone walked over and stepped on to wait for the challenge to begin.

"Welcome to your first Immunity Challenge, everyone. Today, we will be testing numerous skills from you: Swimming, balance and the ability to solve puzzles." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw a couple of rafts sitting on the beach. "Six people from each tribe will carry a seventh person out to a stationary lit torch out in the water using the rafts. The seventh person will then light a provided unlit torch and balance on the raft as they are taken back to shore, where they will light their tribe's torch on the shore. After that is done, the remaining three people for each tribe will have to quickly solve a nine-piece sliding puzzle. The first team to complete the puzzle wins Immunity and will be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The two tribes looked intense for the most part, with the obvious few exceptions. Gary was smiling, Corey was humming a song and Sally was just standing there with a dumb expression on his face.

"If you'll all choose who's doing what, we can get started."

**(Later…)**

For Ventala, the six people carrying the raft were Angela, Amy, Brock, Corey, Zeg and Danglars, carrying Mongo, while Fran-CINE, Kenal and Kendall were going to solve the puzzle. For Ferren, the carriers were Samantha, Robert, Gary, Tempo, Tomato and Chloe, carrying Sally, while the puzzle solvers were Riddle, Erica and Anke.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

The twelve carries quickly raced out into the water, carrying the raft on their shoulders. Even though Brock, Chloe and Zeg were the shortest playing, the water was relatively shallow so no one has any real problems getting into the water.

"How're you holding up back there, Zeg?" Danglars asked.

"So long as the water doesn't get too deep, I'm fine." Zeg said.

"Why did we let you help us carry the raft again?" Angela asked.

"Because Fran-CINE and Kenal are robots and, quite frankly, I don't see Kendall doing this either." Mongo replied. "Now stop talking and get me to that torch out there!"

The Ferren Tribe was going at about the same pace as the Ventala Tribe. The two appeared to be neck-and-neck at the moment.

"Ack! I really can't swim! I hope the water doesn't get too deep!" Tomato said.

"Sorry, Tomato. Riddle wanted to solve the puzzle, Erica and Anke are too short and no one here trusts Sally to carry the raft." Tempo said.

"Thanks for carrying me, guys!" Sally said brightly. "I feel so important right now."

"Just focus on lighting that torch you have." Gary said.

"With what?"

"With the lit torch already out in the water!" Chloe said. "The host told us about how we had to play!"

The two teams waded out into the water, towards the stationary torch sitting a good ways out. The water was slowly getting deeper, but the shorter players were still able to carry the raft. Chloe was the first to have her feet stop touching the ground, but she simply started swimming to keep her part of the raft afloat.

"How much further is the torch?" Brock asked.

"It's still a good ways out there." Amy replied. "Just focus on carrying the raft. Think you can light your torch as we walk by, Mongo?"

"Get me close enough and I'll make sure it gets lit on the way by." Mongo replied.

"Keep pressing forward. We're about halfway there." Angela directed.

"The other tribe's getting ahead of us!" Samantha called out. "Come on! Move faster!"

"Hi, guys!" Robert said cheerily to the other team as they started passing him.

"Focus on the challenge, Robert." Samantha said.

"But it would be rude of me not to say hi to them." Robert said.

"They're our COMPETITION." Tempo said flatly.

Sally laughed. "That's a funny word." He said. He was wisely ignored.

The two teams continued to race out into the water. By now, Zeg was no longer touching the ground either, but he was having a harder time trying to swim than Chloe was. He was more holding onto his rung of the raft and getting pulled along for the ride. The Ventala Tribe was beginning to increase their lead, and this wasn't sitting well with the Ferren Tribe.

"Okay. I think it's time we pulled out the stops." Gary said. "I say we just start running."

"Good idea. Let's do it." Samantha said.

"W-Wait! Not yet!" Tomato pleaded.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as her tribe started running through the water, pulling Tomato along behind them. The tribe quickly caught up with the Ventala Tribe and overtook them completely, heading straight for the stationary torch.

"Ferren now has the lead! It looks like they'll make it to the torch first!" SSBFreak announced.

"Keep it up! If we get there first, we'll have a huge lead going back!" Gary urged.

"Step it up! The last thing we want is to lost the first Immunity!" Angela said.

"Git goin', pardners!" Corey urged. This seemed to get the Ventala players to start moving a little faster.

As much as the Ventala Tribe tried, the Ferren Tribe arrived at the lit torch first.

"Okay, Sally! Light your torch!" Tempo said.

Sally reached out and touched the fire with his torch, effectively lighting it up. "Wow! My stick just caught on fire!" He said.

"Good enough for me! Move!" Tempo said.

"The Ferren Tribe has their torch lit!" SSBFreak announced.

"Guys, I'm barely touching the ground! I can't run like this!" Tomato said.

"Start swimming!" Samantha said.

"I can't swim!"

"Then start drowning!"

The Ferren Tribe started making their way back to shore as the Ventala Tribe slowly managed to approach the torch.

"They're already on their way back!" Mongo said. "Step it up, slowpokes!"

"We're almost there! Come on!" Amy said.

The two tribes continued to move. The Ferren Tribe was slowly starting to build their lead over the Ventala Tribe, who were almost at the lit torch.

"We got this. Just keep moving." Gary said.

Sally looked at the torch in his hand. "Boy. My arm's getting tired from holding this thing up. I need to rest it." He said as he set the still-lit torch on the raft.

On the shore, Anke, Riddle and Erica stared at the scene with wide eyes.

"Please tell me that idiot didn't just light his own raft on fire." Erica said.

"Okay. I won't." Anke said.

"YOU LIT THE RAFT ON FIRE?" Tempo shrieked. "Guys, stop! We have to put it out!"

"What's WRONG with you?" Chloe asked as Tempo and Gary splashed as much water as they could over the building fire.

"What?" Sally asked.

"…You have no idea what you just did, do you?"

"I know we're winning!" Sally said.

Mongo suddenly saw the fire and her eyes widened. "Holy crap! Their raft is on fire!" She exclaimed. "We've got a chance! Move! Move!"

This seemed to get the Ventala Tribe to start moving faster. They quickly arrived at the stationary torch, which Mongo easily lit her torch with as her team carried her by.

"Ventala has their torch lit! It's anyone's game!" SSBFreak announced.

The Ventala Tribe turned around and started going back to shore, quickly catching up on the Ferren Tribe, who had all but stopped completely to put out the fire on their raft.

Tempo splashed a handful of water onto the fire, but it only put a small portion of it out. "Keep splashing it, guys! This isn't working!" He said.

Samantha looked back and saw the other team coming. "They're catching up!" She said. "We need to move!"

"Do you really want to carry a flaming raft on your shoulders?" Gary asked as he continued to splash water. He didn't get an answer as the team continued to put out the fire.

The Ventala Tribe pressed on and easily overtook the still-distracted Ferren Tribe. The lead quickly built to be pretty sizeable after a short walking distance, and before too long, Brock and Zeg were touching the ground again.

"My feet are touching the ground!" Zeg said. "Let's go!"

The Ventala Tribe ran faster now that everyone was running, and before too long, they had reached the shore. The six carries put the raft down, and Mongo quickly ran over to the unlit torch by the puzzle and lit it.

"The second torch is lit! Ventala's puzzle solvers can now get to work!" SSBFreak announced.

"We've got a lead! Don't blow it!" Mongo said as she stepped back.

Kenal was the first of the three to turn to the puzzle. He stared it down for a few seconds before deciding to get to work. "This obviously makes some sort of picture." He said. "How do you propose we get this piece into the top-left corner of the puzzle?"

"We could try this." Kendall replied as he moved a piece down so he could move another left.

Kenal and Kendall worked on the puzzle as Fran-CINE stood to the side, not really interested. Neither robot nor monkey seemed to acknowledge her not doing anything.

By now, the Ferren Tribe had finally managed to put out the fire on the raft. Making sure Sally wouldn't set his torch down again, the tribe continued towards the shore, hoping to make up for lost time.

"Okay. The piece is in the right place." Kenal said. "And…I think we put another couple of pieces in the right places by accident."

"Works for me. Let's see if we can fix the rest of the puzzle without touching the pieces we have right." Kendall nodded.

"Of course."

The robot and monkey continued to work on the puzzle as Fran-CINE simply folded her arms and let them work. She honestly didn't seem to care about the challenge or even winning.

By the time the Ferren Tribe got to shore, Kenal and Kendall were well on their way to solving the puzzle. The tribe set the raft down and Gary hauled Sally over to the unlit torch and made him light it.

"Ferren has lit their torch as well! The puzzle solvers can get to work!" SSBFreak said.

"What the heck happened out there?" Erica asked.

"We don't really know." Gary sighed.

Riddle stared at the puzzle for only a few seconds before making his first couple of moves. "This puzzle is a standard sliding puzzle." He said. "If we can do it right, we should have this done in a matter of minutes."

The two teams worked on the puzzles and it became obvious that the Ventala Tribe was still far ahead. Kenal and Kendall managed to slide the last piece into place before the Ferren Tribe could get very far into their puzzle.

"We're finished." Kenal said.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ventala wins Immunity!"

The Ventala Tribe cheered as the Ferren Tribe looked downcast, although most were glaring at the same team member.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Ventala. You ten are safe tonight and will all be around at least a couple more days." SSBFreak said before turning to the losing tribe. "Ferren, I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council tonight, where you will vote off one of your own. You must now decide who will be the best to cut now, but I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decision. You can all head back to camp."

The two tribes dispersed, going in opposite directions, back to their tribes.

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_That sucked BIG time. We were even WINNING the challenge! And then what happens? That idiot LIGHTS HIS RAFT ON FIRE." Erica said flatly. "Seriously, he was the reason we even LOST the challenge, so I'm sure that everyone will be willing to get rid of him."_

"We're voting for Sally, right?" Erica checked.

"Indeed. What he did in the challenge was beyond stupid." Riddle pointed out. "If we vote him out, we are likely to avoid losses like that."

"Then it's time to start pitching the idea to the others." Erica said.

"_We need to win these challenges if we are to survive out here, but we won't do that if there's someone who destroys our chances the way Sally did." Riddle pointed out. "We need six votes for a majority, and after what happened, I can't see how anyone WOULDN'T be voting for him tonight."_

"What were you thinking?" Samantha asked Sally. "The others are saying that you cost us the challenge."

"But I couldn't hold my arm up that long." Sally insisted.

"I know, but the others will say that it's a poor excuse." Samantha said. "Look, for now, we need to go after Tomato and convince the others that she's a liability."

"A what?" Robert and Sally said as one.

"Just…Just try and convince the others to vote her off, okay?"

"_Because I want to keep the idiots around as long as I can, I need to convince the others that Tomato's a bigger liability than Sally." Samantha said. "I mean, she can't swim and is probably one of the weaker members of the tribe. Getting them to overlook Sally's stupidity will be hard, but like I said, I need him around."_

"_How was I supposed to know that wood could light on fire? I didn't think it could create a fire THAT quickly." Sally scratched his head._

Tomato walked by the shelter and saw Robert talking to Tempo. She started walking over as Robert finished talking.

"Yeah. Sammy just wants you guys to think about it. Okay?" Robert said as he bounded off.

"What was that about?" Tomato asked.

"Samantha's lobbying to get you voted out." Tempo sighed.

"What?"

"She says that you're weaker and you can't swim." Tempo replied. "Don't worry, though. I'm not voting for you."

"But…But why is she targeting me in the first place?" Tomato asked.

"_Tempo and I knew at that point that Samantha was aligned with Sally and was trying to get me out because of that." Tomato said. "I hope this doesn't work because I really want to stay here. I need to overcome my weaknesses, but I know I can do it."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The ten members of Ferren entered Tribal Council with lit torches. They all sat down on the ten stumps that had been provided as council began.

"Welcome to the first Tribal Council of the season, Ferren Tribe, although I know none of you want to be here right now. In a moment, you will be voting one of your own out of the game as the contest's first elimination." SSBFreak said before starting to ask questions. "Chloe, how is tribe life?"

"Our tribe is amazing! We got a freakin' waterfall!" Chloe said. "After we put our shelter and fire pit together, the bunch of us spent a lot of time jumping off it!"

"Riddle, how are the people?"

"It could be better, but it is decent for the most part. There are a few people we don't exactly trust." Riddle said.

"Care to elaborate?"

"There is the one that has buttons for eyes." Riddle said. "We all basically know that she is not to be trusted."

"Anything to add, Samantha?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'm insulted, Riddle. Just because I have buttons for eyes and have long fingers doesn't mean I'm evil." Samantha said. "I mean, I could consider that discrimination, you know."

"Uh…Whatever that means." Robert said.

"We are all aware of where you come from." Riddle shrugged.

"Gary, what happened at the challenge?" SSBFreak asked.

"We were doing well until Sally decided to light his raft on fire for reasons we still don't get." Gary shrugged. "If that hadn't happened, we would have won hands-down."

"Sally, what do you have to say for yourself for costing your team the win?"

Sally blinked. "Wait. We lost? Why am I always the last one to know?" He asked.

SSBFreak paused before moving on. "Tomato, how will the vote go tonight?" He asked.

"It will either be me or Sally going, but I can't see how it should even be a contest." Tomato said. "I know I'm weaker than I'd like, but Sally cost us the challenge over something that shouldn't have happened to begin with!"

"Okay. I think that's enough questions. It's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Chloe, you're up."

Chloe got up and walked out of the hut to go vote at the table outside. She scribbled a name down and placed it into the urn.

Erica wasted no time in writing a name down. "You deserve this SO much." She said as she jammed her ballot into the urn.

Riddle wrote a name down and placed it into the jar. "Not even worth pondering." He mused as he went back to the hut as quick as he came.

Sally wrote a name down and revealed the word 'Potato'. "Sammy says I need to vote for you, so I will." He said.

Samantha wrote a name down, looking cross. After she finished writing, she wasted no time in putting the vote into the urn.

Anke approached the table and wrote a name down, placing her ballot into the jar and leaving just as quickly.

Robert looked sad as he wrote a name down. "I don't like this part." He said as he put his vote into the urn and walked away.

Tomato wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You cost us the challenge and don't even seem to realize it." She said, having voted for Sally.

Tempo looked pretty mad as he wrote a name down. "Samantha's asking for it." He said as he voted and left the table.

Gary was last to vote. The stronger man approached the table, wrote a name down, voted and left again without a word.

Once all ten people voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Sally." "Yes?"

"Tomato." Tomato looked calm, but bit her lip regardless.

"Sally." "What is it?"

"Tomato. That's two each." Tomato started to fidget.

"Tomato. She leads." Tomato took a deep breath.

"Sally." "Why do you keep saying my name?"

"Sally." "Seriously. It's getting annoying."

"Sally." "Okay. I'm just going to ignore you now."

"Sally." Sally folded his arms and looked away. "Last vote and first person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Sally. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Sally remained in his seat, as if ignoring the host. Gary spoke up. "Sally, you need to give your torch to the host." He said.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" Sally asked as he brought his torch to the host, who held the snuffer in his hands. "Did I win yet?"

"Sally, the tribe has-" SSBFreak said before Sally stupidly got his hat set on fire by holding his torch too high.

"AUGH! FIRE! FIRE!" Sally screamed as he ran in circles. "PUT IT OUT! FIRE IS BAD!" He screamed as he ran out of Tribal Council.

SSBFreak blinked a few times before finally extinguishing Sally's torch and looking at the others. "And so ends the first Tribal Council. If anyone has learned anything, it's us that realized that we need to pay closer attention to the people that apply for this show. The right method of solution will be used and the casting director will be fired." He explained. "There are nine of you here and you are at a disadvantage going into the next challenge. Hopefully, you'll be able to overcome that. You can all head back to camp."

The nine remaining Ferren players stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council, feeling a little more intelligent now. Samantha brought up the rear, looking mad. The game had only just started and she was down an alliance member. She needed to act fast…

"_Wait. So I DIDN'T win the game?...I don't get it. I didn't even meet this Vivor guy so I could say 'Sure' to him." Sally lamented. "How could it have happened like that, though? I thought the others would want to keep me because I'm awesome like that."_

**Voting History:**

**Sally – Anke, Chloe, Erica, Gary, Riddle, Tempo and Tomato**

**Tomato – Robert, Sally and Samantha**

Author's Notes: I'll be honest: When I first got Sally's application form, I didn't really think much of it. However, the more I looked into it, the more I realized that he'd make an epic first boot. I know he's the only one that could screw up so badly it would get most of his tribe to turn on him, so I needed something to happen fast to get it done.


	3. Days 4 to 6

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_So much for that. We just came from our first Tribal Council and we voted out the cancer holding us back." Erica said. "That being said, since it wasn't a complete landslide of a vote, we know that Sally had an alliance, but we don't know why anyone would align with him in the first place."_

"Thanks for keeping me. I really think I can do better in other challenges." Tomato said.

"No need to thank us. It was an obvious choice as to who to vote for." Riddle shrugged.

"Well, it was for us, anyway." Erica said. "I assume this means that Samantha's a snake?"

"I do not doubt it. This confirms our suspicions, but why would she form an alliance with Sally to begin with?" Riddle asked.

"_I'm SO glad I'm still here despite having a big part in costing us the challenge. If Sally hadn't done so much damage himself, I may have been voted out." Tomato explained. "I don't want that to happen, so come next challenge, I need to prove that I'm worth keeping around."_

Meanwhile, Samantha was pacing around in front of the shelter while Robert was sitting by it, looking sad.

"Why'd they have to vote out Sally-Mander?" Robert asked. "I liked him."

"I know, Robert. This means that we can't trust them." Samantha said. "So that means that if they start coming to you to tell you some of their thoughts, don't listen to them."

"O-Okay."

"Now all we need to do is try to find a way to get the others to turn on each other first…" Samantha mused.

"_I don't like focusing so much on all this strategic stuff because all I want to do here is have fun and make friends." Robert said. "It wasn't nice of the others to vote out one of my friends first, so…I don't know what to do, so I just let Samantha take care of that."_

"_My plan's already come across an obstacle: These idiots voted out one of my alliance members, and it was the stupider of the two idiots I aligned with." Samantha said. "While I'm willing to admit that it seems to have made Robert more loyal to me, I want to make sure the others pay for it."_

The tribe decided to go to bed, because now that they were behind, they needed to try even harder in the challenges.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 4)**

"_We managed to win the first Immunity of the season, which is sure to bring up the tribe morale. That being said, I'd like to make sure I have all my bases covered." Brock said. "Amy and I have the element of surprise since no one knows that we even know each other outside of the game, and I wanna use that to our advantage."_

"If we can keep the others convinced that we're perfect strangers, then they won't suspect us of being massive threats." Brock said to Amy as the two walked along the edge of the lake.

"Sounds like a good idea. But where does that leave Angela?" Amy asked. "She'll get pretty mad at BOTH of us if we backstab her, no matter how late in the game it is."

Brock's face fell. "Also true."

"_Brock's idea is good, but he's not factoring Angela into the equation. If we vote her out, we would likely lose a jury vote." Amy explained. "If she has to go, we need to find a way to make it look like we weren't responsible for it."_

"Hey, you two." Amy and Brock turned and saw Angela coming over.

"What's up, Angela?" Amy asked.

"You haven't found out anything more about this mysterious saboteur, have you?" Angela asked.

"Did something happen again?" Brock asked.

"A good portion of the food we collected last night was either gone or splattered all over the ground behind the shelter." Angela replied.

"At first I thought it may have been some wildlife, but now it just seems like too much of a coincidence." Brock said. "But…I still don't get why someone would try to sabotage their OWN tribe."

"For the fun of it, I guess." Amy shrugged.

"The important thing is that we need to find out who's doing this and get rid of them right away." Angela said. "Quite frankly, it could be any of the other seven people here."

"I don't think it would be Zeg or Corey, if it helps." Amy pointed out. "Corey's way too positive to do something like this and Zeg is intent on helping out around here."

"_Strategizing will have to come later. At the moment, all anyone seems to be thinking about is who among us is sabotaging us and why." Amy said. "Maybe…Maybe this person was a plant to stir up drama? Maybe the other team is going through what we are…"_

"_This is getting frustrating. I consider any form of sabotage to be an act of treason against the group, even in a game like this." Angela said. "I promise that, when I find out who the person sabotaging us is, I will make certain that he or she will be voted out."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 4)**

Tempo sat on a log and watched Anke and Chloe splash around in the water. His thoughts looked elsewhere and appeared to be in deep thought.

"Hey, Tempo! Come on in!" Anke said. She didn't get an answer.

"Just leave him. It's his own fault for not wanting to enjoy himself." Chloe said. Anke shrugged.

"_Chloe and I sorta made a bit of an alliance since we started and Tempo seemed to come in as well after we already formed." Anke said. "Not that I mind. He's a good person to talk to and he's nice to us."_

"_Tempo's an okay guy, I guess. There are times where I just don't know if he sees me as cute or not. Does he have a woman back home or something?" Chloe asked. "Well, he helps us out when we need him, so I guess I can't really complain about what he does and doesn't do."_

As the girls swam around, Tempo was thinking over what to do. The events of the last Tribal Council left him with a few ideas…

"_Normally, I'd try to play the ladies' man around here, but the only woman on my team that isn't an anthro or underage is Samantha, and we all know that she isn't nice." Tempo said. "I hate having to go against a pretty woman like this, but the situation calls for it since I know she'll probably try something."_

"I say we try and get rid of Samantha next, girls." Tempo said.

"What for? She's stronger, isn't she?" Anke asked.

"She's sneakier. Robert I'm not worried about at all, but if Samantha stays, then she could get us to turn against each other." Tempo pointed out. "She's a bigger threat."

"I'm fine with that. She kinda creeps me out, anyway." Chloe said. "Those buttons for eyes, and those super-long fingernails…Man, how does she even think she looks pretty like that?"

"I know! And that long face of hers is so off-putting!" Anke agreed.

As Anke and Chloe continued to talk about increasingly-off-topic things, Tempo just sat back, wondering what he had just created.

"_If there's one thing I don't get about those girly-girls, it's how they can talk for hours about nothing." Tempo said. "I bet the other's team's lucky they don't have to put up with this…"_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"…Man! It was all crazy! All of our chickens just stepped offa the dock and decided ta turn on us when we were in the middle-a milking the cows!" Corey laughed. "Y'all shoulda seen it! Two-hundred chickens with murder in their eyes cornering five of us into the corner of the pen!"

"Fascinating." Kenal said. "Tell me. How did you escape that one?"

"Glad ya asked! Mah Uncle Leeroy decided that he had enough-a being oppressed by them chickens, screamed a battle cry and ran headfirst into the crowd!" Corey said. "Man, the chickens jumped on him like one of them dog-piles and started attackin' him! If mah dad and other uncles didn't pull him outta the pile, he coulda lost his eyes!"

"Sounds like a rather reckless move, though." Kenal said.

"Yeah, but then again, what d'ya expect from a guy named 'Leeroy'?"

"_The others get annoyed rather quickly at Corey's little stories, but since I don't have that type of nervous system, I can listen to her all day and not get annoyed." Kenal explained. "In fact, I find her stories rather interesting, because it shows me what humans are capable of withstanding in extreme situations."_

Meanwhile, Mongo walked over to Danglars, who looked confused about something. "Why the heck are you just standing around in the middle of camp?" She asked. "You look stupid."

"You know that flint that we were supplied with at the start? Ours is missing." Danglars said.

Mongo narrowed her eyes. "Oh, no freaking WAY. Now our FLINT'S gone?" She asked.

"I know. I told Zeg about it and he said he could put a fire together without it." Danglars said.

"You're trusting the HALF-BLIND guy to make a fire?" Mongo asked flatly.

"Why do you think I'm trying to find the flint?" Danglars asked.

Mongo stood in silence for a few seconds. "I'll search over there." She said as she walked off.

"…_Yeah. I'm not big on letting a guy like Zeg be in charge of making fire, but then again, if he's the only one of us that can make a fire without flint, we need to find it." Mongo said. "That mole could burn the whole tribe down for all we know! We need to find the flint or whoever took it before that happens."_

Meanwhile, Fran-CINE was walking towards the lake, flint in hand. When she arrived at the lake, she made sure no one was looking before tossing the flint into the water and walking away casually.

"If I can't take away the fire pit, I'll take away the fire." Fran-CINE mused to herself.

"_These fleshy beings are more persistent than I thought. Ruining the fire pit did little than annoy them." Fran-CINE said. "Now I know that I need to strike them hard when I try to make life hard for them. As such, the flint needs to go. I mean, I don't need it, so I don't see how anyone else needs it."_

As Fran-CINE walked off, she failed to notice a furry head stick out from the branches of a tree he had climbed.

"_So Fran-CINE is the one causing problems…This could work to my advantage, but I think I'll wait until she REALLY makes the others mad before exposing her." Kendall said with a smirk. "It'll make everyone else see me as a hero and keep me around while voting out Fran-CINE at the same time."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_I realize that I need to tell someone about my allergy problems. If we lose a challenge because of my allergies to fur and no one knows about them, I may get eliminated." Tomato said. "I decided to just tell a few people about my allergies because I don't think everyone here has to know about them."_

"Allergies to fur, huh?" Gary asked. "But…Didn't the host say that you have some sort of super form?"

"Yeah. My Mew Mew form. I'm allergic to it as well." Tomato sighed. "Just my luck, right?"

"I think I can see your rationale. You have an excuse if this causes us to lose a challenge, right?' Riddle asked. Erica stayed silent, but simply folded her arms and waited to hear Tomato out.

"It's not an excuse. I just want to justify it if I suddenly start sneezing in the middle of a challenge." Tomato insisted. "I'm just thankful I ended up on a team with only three anthros."

"What about me? I am not a human either, you know." Riddle asked.

"I know, but you don't have fur. I'm fine with that."

"_I don't really blame Tomato for having allergies to fur. I mean, some of the people back where I come from have far worse and stranger allergies." Gary shrugged. "Unless we lose really BAD to her allergies, I don't really see the others rallying to vote her out first."_

As Tomato walked off, Erica looked at the other members of her alliance. "What do you guys make of it?" She asked.

"We should be asking you, Erica. You seemed rather quiet." Riddle pointed out.

"I dunno. Part of me wants to trust her, but another part of me thinks she's making it up so we feel sorry for her." Erica noted.

"Why would she do that, though?" Gary asked.

"I may not look it, but I'm a fan of the show. It pays to be deceptive in this game." Erica reminded.

"_If there's anything you need to know when playing this game, it's that anyone could be lying about anything. Unless you know for sure you can trust them, you almost need to not trust what others say." Erica said. "I know it's sort of a pessimistic way of playing the game, but it's better than being blindsided by someone you trust."_

"I recommend that we give her the benefit of the doubt for now." Riddle suggested. "If any of us sees her sneezing around Anke, Chloe or Robert, then we'll know she has allergies."

"Sounds good to me." Gary shrugged.

"Fine, but I still have suspicions." Erica reminded.

Night eventually rolled in and the two teams decided to go to bed, knowing that there would likely be a challenge the following day.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 5)**

"Of all the rotten, scheming…" Amy muttered as she walked out of the water with the wet flint in her hands. Angela saw this and rushed over.

"That's our flint!" Angela said. "Where was it?"

"It the water. It's so waterlogged now that I think it's been in there all night." Amy shook her head. "I doubt we can hit the host up for some more."

Angela growled. "Why is this happening?" She demanded.

"Couldn't tell you."

"_Someone on this tribe is hell-bent on making us miserable, and none of us know who. Any one of us could be pretending to get along with us and then stab us in the back when we aren't prepared." Angela said, arms folded. "I'm certain that my alliance members aren't the guilty party, but that still leaves seven other possibilities."_

Meanwhile, a more-pleasant conversation was going on with a few of the other tribe members.

"You guys think it'll be a Reward or an Immunity?" Zeg asked.

"If I was a betting man, I'd probably guess Reward." Danglars suggested. "We could probably use a Reward, though."

"What challenge do you think it'll be?"

"It'll likely not involve swimming since that was our last challenge." Danglars shrugged.

"_I hope it's not swimming. I'm not the best swimmer, but that's probably to be expected since I'm a mole and have height problems." Zeg said. "If it's a digging challenge, I'll be all over it, but somehow, I doubt we'd have a challenge like that."_

"We've got some treemail." Kendall announced as he walked into camp. The others gathered around him.

"I guess it doesn't say what we have to do, right?" Brock asked.

"Nope. It's just asking how good we are with a bow and arrow." Kendall said. "From the looks of things, it's accuracy."

"_I'm fine with a challenge that has to do with accuracy. I'm fairly accurate when throwing things, but I have to say that I'm not used to bows." Kendall admitted. "I hope I don't make myself look like a liability. That's the last thing I want."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 5)**

"What do you think we should do now that Sally's gone?" Robert asked.

"We need to face the facts, Robert. If we don't do something, they'll go after us next." Samantha said. "Because of this, we need to try and get everyone to focus on someone else. Someone the tribe could do without."

"Like who?" Robert asked, his ears drooping. "I like everyone."

"I was thinking more of the monkey and the panda." Samantha said. "They're small and weak, so it may be easiest to sway the others to vote them out."

"Will it work?"

"Everyone wants to win challenges. They won't win any if they keep the weak players."

"_I need to get as much attention off myself as possible since it's apparent that the others don't trust me." Samantha said. "Thankfully, because we've got some weaker players, I may be able to convince the others that we've got some sacrificial lambs that we can afford to lose. Of course, half the problem is convincing these people."_

"_I wish I didn't have to vote anyone off. Maybe I can prevent it if we win all of the challenges, so then we won't HAVE to vote anyone off." Robert shrugged. "But I hope I can show the others that Samantha's right. I don't want her to go right after I just lost another one of my friends."_

"We've got some treemail, everyone." Gary announced as he approached the others with a letter.

"What are we up against?' Erica asked.

"It's wondering how good we are with a bow and arrow." Gary replied. "Is there anyone here that isn't good with archery?"

"I fail to see how that would make a difference." Riddle piped up. "We are down a person, so we are unable to sit anyone out."

"We can still win. I think we've got a good shot." Tempo said with a smirk.

"_We don't want to let the fact that we're down a person dissuade us. There's only been ONE challenge in the season thus far. We can still win and we intend to show it." Tempo said. "The challenge needs to fit our skills, but when they do, I think we can totally win."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The Ventala Tribe stood on their mat in a clearing in the jungle. They appeared to be waiting for the other tribe, as the Ferren mat was empty at the moment.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the Ferren Tribe." SSBFreak said as the Ferren Tribe came into view. Everyone saw who was missing in the group. "Sally was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Not surprised in the slightest." Mongo said with a smirk as the Ferren Tribe stepped onto their mat.

"Welcome to your first Reward Challenge, everyone. Here, we will see how good you all are at aiming a bow and arrow at a target." SSBFreak said. Everyone suddenly noticed that there was a long bullseye target sitting a ways away. "You will fire arrows at the same target one at a time, with one person from each tribe going against each other. Each of the nine rings on the bullseye represents a score ranging from 1 to 9, and you get ten points if you get a bullseye. The winning tribe will be the tribe that scores the most overall points, and the prize for winning will be a machete."

The two tribes looked at each other, knowing that they could really use the machete.

"Ventala, you have an extra member. Who will you be sitting out?" SSBFreak asked.

"I literally can't use a bow and arrow." Kenal explained. "I'll sit out."

"Okay. If you'll all choose your shooting order, we can get started." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

Brock and Samantha were the first two to shoot arrows. They both looked rather confident with their chances.

"First up is Brock vs. Samantha. Brock, you go first." SSBFreak said.

"Okay." Brock said as he pulled back on his bow and shot his arrow, striking the target on one of the inner rings.

"Not bad. Seven points." SSBFreak said. "Samantha, your turn."

Samantha nodded and fired her arrow, striking the target as well, but not as close to the middle as Brock's.

"That's…Four points. Not enough." SSBFreak said. "Ventala leads 7-4."

Fran-CINE and Tempo were up next. The two lined up and prepared to fire their arrows.

"Next is Fran-CINE vs. Tempo. Fran-CINE, you go ahead."

The red robot took aim and fired her arrow, managing to strike the target around where Brock had hit earlier.

"That's seven points again. Tempo, can you beat that?"

"I'll try." Tempo said as he took aim and fired, managing to hit the same ring as Fran-CINE, but on the other side of the target.

"That's also seven points. Ventala leads 14-11."

Mongo and Riddle were next. Mongo took the time to adjust her bowler hat before starting.

"Next is Mongo vs. Riddle. Mongo, you're first."

Mongo wasted no time and fired her arrow as soon as she had aimed. The arrow his one of the middle rings.

"That's five points. Riddle, you're next."

Riddle quickly aimed and fired his arrow, managing to strike the target much-closer to the middle than Mongo.

"That's eight points. The game is now tied at 19."

Kendall and Anke were next up. The two monkeys acknowledged each other for a second, but otherwise remained silent.

"Next is Kendall vs. Anke. You can go anytime, Kendall."

Taking aim, Kendall fired his arrow. However, the arrow hit the target on one of the outer rings, not as good as the others.

"That's only three points. Anke, your turn."

Anke took aim as well and fired, showing that her aim was better than Kendall's as she hit a closer ring.

"That's six points. Ferren now leads 25-22."

Zeg and Tomato were next. Neither of them looked especially confident.

"Next is Zeg vs. Tomato. You can go whenever, Zeg."

Zeg pulled back on his bow and fired his arrow. Everyone winced as the arrow found a home in SSBFreak's shoulder. Strangely, the host didn't seem to notice.

"Uh…You just got shot, man." Danglars said.

SSBFreak glanced at the arrow in his shoulder. "Indeed I have. This is extremely painful." He said. "Tomato, you can go."

Tomato quickly took aim and fired, not caring where she hit so long as it was on the target. The arrow hit the target on one of the middle rings.

"That's five points. Ferren leads 30-22."

Angela and Robert were up next. Angela appeared to be looking at Robert in disappointment.

"Next is Angela vs. Robert. You can go whenever, Angela."

Angela didn't need to be told twice and fired and arrow at the target, managing to hit one of the inner rings.

"That's eight points. Robert, you're up."

"Okay!" Robert said as he fired his arrow at the target. He didn't hit as close to the middle as Angela, but he managed to get one of the middle rings.

"That's five points. Ferren leads 35-30."

The next two were Amy and Erica. Neither of the girls spoke, but it was obvious they were focused on the challenge.

"Next is Amy vs. Erica. You can go when you want, Amy."

Amy took aim and fired an arrow at the target, managing to hit one of the middle rings.

"That's six points. Your turn, Erica."

"Okay." Erica said as she fired her arrow at the target, managing to hit around the same area as Amy's arrow.

"That's also six points. Ferren leads 41-36."

The next duo was Danglars and Chloe. Needless to say, Danglars was starting to feel pressure.

"Next is Danglars vs. Chloe. Whenever you're ready, Danglars."

Danglars took a breath and fired, managing to hit the target, but on one of the outer rings.

"That's four points. Chloe?"

Chloe nodded and fired her own arrow. It didn't hit the middle, but the arrow got a few rings closer than Danglars.

"That's seven points. Ferren leads 48-40."

The last duo up was Corey and Gary. The pressure was on both players to win.

"Here's where we stand. Corey needs to hit at least an eight while at the same time Gary missing altogether." SSBFreak said. "Go ahead, Corey."

Corey paused a moment, took aim and fired. She surprised everyone by hitting the target dead-center.

"That's a bullseye! Ten points!" SSBFreak said. "Gary, you need at least a three to win."

"Got it." Gary nodded as he took aim and fired, managing to hit the target somewhere around the middle.

"That's it! Gary got more than enough to win!" SSBFreak said. "Ferren wins Reward!"

The Ferren Tribe cheered as Gary looked satisfied.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Ferren. The machete is now yours." SSBFreak said as he handed Gary the machete. "In addition, you will also be able to send one of your own to Exile Island for a day. The Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden on that island and whoever goes will only have a day to find it."

"I want to go." Chloe said.

"Okay. Chloe will be going to Exile Island and will join everyone at the Immunity Challenge tomorrow." SSBFreak said. "You can all head back to camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Awesome! We managed to win our first challenge and got a sweet machete for it! Now we can cut firewood instead of having to break it off the trees!" Anke said. "The only downside is that Chloe wanted to go to Exile Island. Hey, if she can find that idol out there, that's good news for us."_

"You think Chloe will find the idol?" Anke asked.

"We can always hope." Tempo shrugged. "I mean, it's the first time someone's gone out there, so I doubt she'll be able to find it right away."

"What do you mean?"

"She'll likely get a clue leading to the idol and it'll be extremely-vague." Tempo replied.

"_The problem with going to Exile Island first is that the clue won't be that helpful. That's kinda why I didn't want to take it right away." Tempo rubbed his head. "That being said, at least an ally decided to go. The last thing we want at the moment is the Immunity Idol ending up in the hands of someone like Samantha."_

Meanwhile, Samantha was watching Robert hack at a tree with the machete. He wasn't making a lot of progress and kept getting the machete stuck.

"Hey, Sam?" Robert asked as he turned around. "Why didn't you want to go to the island? I thought that this idol thing would help us."

"Because finding it on the first trip would be too hard, and I quite frankly don't want to leave you alone with these people." Samantha shook her head.

"Oh. Well, that sure was nice of you, then!" Robert said cheerily as he returned to chopping the tree.

"_Samantha's real nice to me. I think she's trying to help me out here because we already lost a friend." Robert said. "The others say that she's not really nice, but I don't believe that. Why would she be going through all this trouble just to be with me?"_

"_I want to keep Robert around because he's stupid enough to do as I say and will vote for me if he makes the jury." Samantha explained. "I already lost one complete tool and I don't want to lose the second. If I do, I'm out of resources and no one else will trust me."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_Losing a challenge is never a good feeling, but we take some bit of solace in the face that it was just a Reward Challenge." Amy pointed out. "That being said, there were indeed some people that came back to camp feeling a little upset at what happened."_

"Why didn't you tell anyone that you fail with accuracy?" Mongo asked.

"Uh…Half-blind. Remember?" Zeg reminded, pointed at his blind eye. "Besides, you expect the robot with one arm to be able to fire a bow and arrow?"

"Dude, you SHOT THE HOST in the shoulder." Brock stated.

"It was his fault for standing in the way." Zeg shrugged. "It's not like he didn't know what to expect, though. He's the one that cast me."

"_People are mad at me for costing us the challenge, but when you weigh the options we had, we didn't have much of a choice since Kenal only has one arm." Zeg said. "Besides, I said point-blank in my audition that I have horrible aim, so it's not like the host didn't know what to expect back there."_

"_Zeg's little episode at the challenge proved to us that there's no way in Hades he should be trusted with anything that involves accuracy in any form." Mongo said flatly. "I'm almost GLAD we didn't win the machete! There's no telling what kind of damage that guy could do with one of those things!"_

Corey sighed as she watched the scene from afar. "Man. Ah sure was hopin' we could win that knife." She said. "We coulda' used it."

"Indeed, but we should be thankful that it was just a Reward Challenge." Kenal supplied before turning to Fran-CINE. "How about you? What do you think?"

"I think we could have used it, to be honest." Fran-CINE shrugged. "No big deal that we didn't get it, though."

"_I'm a little torn here. I'm glad that we didn't win the Reward because the last thing I want is for life to be easier for these people, but I could have simply stolen the machete and hid it from the others if we DID win it." Fran-CINE shrugged. "I could have made them even more miserable, but since we didn't win, I'll have to continue on my own."_

**(Exile Island)**

"So this is Exile Island." Chloe said as she looked around. She saw that the location was mainly a large island with a small shelter on it, although there were a couple of smaller islands off the shoreline of it. "Hmm…This could either be nice for the peace and quiet or suck for the same reasons."

"_I decided to come to Exile Island because I wanna see if I can find that Immunity Idol. I know the chances of me finding it on the first day are slim, but I needed to try." Chloe said. "I mean, I don't think I need it yet, but it never hurts to be prepared, right?"_

Chloe reached into the treemail box and pulled out the Immunity Clue. She read it over a couple of times. "Hmm…What is this thing trying to say?" She asked herself. "I'm…Not sure if I get it. Maybe…"

With that, Chloe started wandering around Exile Island, trying to see if she could find the idol. She was constantly checking her clue when she thought that she needed to double-check her progress or see if she missed anything.

Chloe walked up to a couple of trees and tried digging in the sand between them. She didn't find anything. "Maybe…Maybe I'm looking at this clue wrong?" Chloe asked herself. "But where would the idol be, then?"

"_After my search for the idol, I made the sudden realization that it indeed sucks on Exile Island. If it wasn't for the possibility of finding the idol, I swear I'd never want to come back here." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Man. I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's challenge so I can get back together with the others."_

Night eventually rolled in and the nineteen players, no matter where they were, decided to go to bed to prepare for the Immunity Challenge the following day.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 6)**

"Hey, Erica? Have you seen Riddle?" Gary asked as he walked over to the green-haired goth.

"I think he's over there, talking to Tomato." Erica replied.

"Why do you think he would do that?"

"Probably to see if she wanted to join our alliance."

"_We like Riddle and he's a nice guy to hang around, but we find that he likes to think way too fast for us to keep up with." Erica said. "By the time he told us he was interested in recruiting Tomato, he had already formed a plan AS WELL AS a backup plan in case it failed."_

"You think Tomato would be the best choice as an ally, though?" Gary asked.

"Everyone else is in an alliance." Erica shrugged. "Look around. Robert's with Samantha and Tempo's with the two little girls."

"Yeah. I guess Tomato's the only one without a sturdy alliance, then." Gary scratched his head.

"_I always try to be optimistic about things, and Erica made a good point. Bringing Tomato into the alliance would add another vote if nothing else." Gary shrugged. "And she isn't physically the weakest here so I doubt she'd be in any real trouble with the others."_

"We've got treemail, guys!" Anke said as she came over. "Time to see if Chloe liked Exile Island!"

"What's it say about the challenge?" Tomato asked.

"How strong we all are as a team." Anke replied.

"You think we may be holding something heavy off the ground as a group?" Tempo asked.

"Only one way to find out." Gary shrugged.

"_I'm a little worried about this. Logically, the other team has all the stronger players, so we may be in trouble depending on the challenge." Erica pointed out._

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 6)**

"_We lost yesterday's challenge, so we just need to hope that we can win today's one now that we got the loss out of our systems." Angela said. "I, personally, am hoping for a strength challenge. I know we have the other team beat in that department, so if we can play to what we accel at, we'll be sure to win."_

"Any sign of the mail yet, pardner?" Corey asked as Angela came over.

"No, but we know it's coming today." Angela shook her head.

"Man. All this waitin' reminds me of the time a buncha coyotes surrounded the house and trapped us all inside. Boy, the only thing we could do was just wait fer them ta leave since shooting at them would make them attack." Corey said. "Then mah uncle decided he had enough and ran out ta fight them."

"Let me guess: Your "Uncle Leeroy"?" Angela asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah! How'd ya know?"

"Just a hunch."

As Corey continued to talk, Kenal, who was nearby, looked at Angela. "I'm impressed that you're able to put up with this." He noted.

"Believe me, I've heard much worse." Angela sighed. "Doesn't make me hate it less, but Corey's strong, so I'm forced to tolerate it."

"_I've mentioned that I'm able to put up with Corey because I have infinite patience, but I'm surprised that Angela can do the same." Kenal said. "I am unsure of what she does where she comes from, but if she can put up with people like Corey, then she must have it ten times worse."_

"Hey, guys! We've got treemail!" Danglars said as he came into camp.

"It must have just come. I was just there." Angela noted.

"Time for Immunity! What does it say?" Brock asked.

"From the looks of things, it's a strength-based challenge." Danglars replied.

"Perfect." Angela said with a smirk.

"_I know I may not look it, but I'm pretty strong. It this challenge involves strength, then I've got a good shot." Brock said. "This could also help me in the long run because, while I'm strong, I don't look it so others will overlook me at the merge."_

_Danglars flexed his arm and tried to make a muscle, but without much luck. "Come on! I can almost see it!" He strained as he tried to make whatever muscle he had more-visible._

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The two tribes emerged from the jungle and onto a clearing. Seeing their mats on the ground, they all walked over and stepped on, waiting to begin.

"Before we start, let's bring back Chloe, who is returning from Exile Island." SSBFreak said as Chloe walked in from the side and joined the others. "Welcome to your second Immunity Challenge, everyone. Here, we will be testing your strength as a team with an old-fashioned tug-of war." Everyone suddenly became aware of the large pit up mud behind the host. "The object is simple: Pull the opposing team into the mud. Should even one member of a team fall into the mud, their team will lose the challenge. The winning team will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The two tribes looked each other over, as if sixing up strength.

"Ventala, you have one extra member. Who will you be sitting out?" SSBFreak asked.

"That would be me." Kendall said, raising his arm.

"Okay. If the rest of you will get into position, we can start."

**(Later…)**

The anchors for the two teams were chosen quickly: Angela and Gary. The other players were scattered amongst the large rope everyone was holding onto in no particular order. People saw that Kenal was holding onto the rope with his lone claw.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

The two teams quickly started pulling on the rope, trying to force the other team into the mud, although it quickly became clear that there wasn't a clear winner. This continued for a good moment.

"Come on, guys. We've got this." Gary said.

"Not all of us are super-weightlifters like you are, Gary." Erica muttered as she pulled on the rope.

"Just keep at it and we can beat them."

"How are they this strong? I thought for sure we could beat them in seconds." Angela muttered. "This force can't be coming from that one guy."

"Try to keep yourself focused, Angela." Amy suggested. "How do you guys think we should do this?"

"Keep trying." Brock said. "We don't want to use up all of our strength."

The two teams continued to pull against the rope in an attempt to pull the other team into the mud. The flag at the middle of the rope kept wavering back and forth, going a couple of inches in one direction and then a couple of inches in the other. This continued on for a good while.

"I think if we all pull really hard at once, we might be able to surprise the others and pull them all into the mud." Tempo suggested.

"A sound idea, but we'll just waste energy now." Riddle replied. "We need to wait until they let their guard down so they won't brace themselves when we pull."

"We've got no way in telling when they'll lower their guard, though." Chloe said.

"It will come."

"How are you doing back there, Gary?" Tempo asked.

"Fine, thanks." Gary replied casually.

Meanwhile, the Ventala Tribe was having similar thoughts as their opponents.

"I say we just pull at once and yank everyone else into the mud." Danglars suggested.

"They'll all brace for it and we'll use up our stamina." Mongo retorted.

"It's the only way we can really win since it looks obvious we can't out-muscle them."

Mongo remained silent, but glanced at Kenal. "How are you holding onto the rope, anyway?" She asked.

"I may only have one claw, but I have an iron grip." Kenal replied.

"Hang on. I may have an idea." Angela said. "Follow my lead…"

The two teams continued to pull against each other, still having no success. It was clear that some were starting to get tired, although Kendall couldn't help but watch the scene in amusement.

"I have to admit that I'm impressed. I thought that this challenge would be over quickly, but it seems that everyone really wants to win." SSBFreak said.

"Okay, everyone. On three." Angela said.

"Oh, crap! They're doing it!" Anke said.

"Prepare to brace, everyone." Riddle said. "If we hold firm after this, they may tire themselves out."

"One…Two!"

However, the Ventala Tribe pulled as hard as they could on "Two" and didn't even bother counting to "Three". Because this caught the Ferren Tribe off guard, they were pulled forward far enough for Chloe, Anke, Erica and Riddle to fall into the mud. Robert watched them for a few seconds before jumping in after them for fun.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Ventala wins Immunity!"

The Ventala Tribe cheered loudly as Angela gave a satisfied nod.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity again, Ventala. You are all safe for at least a couple more days out here." SSBFreak said as he turned to the losing tribe, five members of which were covered in mud. "Ferren, I'll be seeing you again tonight for Tribal Council, where you will vote another one of your own out of the game. I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decisions, but for now, you can head back to camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Losing two Immunities in a row is never a good feeling. Not exactly how I envisioned my Survivor debut." Tempo folded his arms. "That being said, we know who to vote for. Samantha's obviously trying to get the rest of us to join her and I don't really see myself doing that."_

"We're voting Samantha tonight, girls." Tempo said. "We need to get rid of her before she gets too powerful."

"I'm fine with that. She's kinda creepy." Anke noted.

"Yeah. Her hair I love, but her nails and eyes just send her over the edge for me." Chloe said.

"So will the others vote with us?" Anke asked.

"We'll need to start asking around." Tempo replied.

"_I hope we can get rid of Samantha tonight. None of us are really fooled by her nice-girl act except for Robert." Anke explained. "However, if she stays around, we know she'll be impossible to get rid of."_

Meanwhile, Samantha was off talking to the trio of Riddle, Gary and Erica. Robert was standing to the side, slapping the side of his head to eject mud from his ear.

"I think we should vote out Anke." Samantha suggested. "She's weak and we need to start winning challenges."

"We won the Reward Challenge." Erica folded her arms with an unimpressed look.

"We lost both the challenges that really matter. The last thing any of us want is to go into the merge in a severe minority." Samantha said.

"_I hate trying to work with these people, but I know I'll likely get votes tonight and I didn't come here just to get voted out early." Samantha said. "I need to plant a few ideas and make them want to keep me over to weaker players."_

As Samantha walked off (dragging Robert with her), Riddle looked at the others. "She made a valid point." He admitted.

"Don't tell me you're actually thinking of voting WITH her, Riddle." Erica said flatly.

"She's stronger and we need to win challenges." Riddle pointed out.

"She's also a diabolical witch bent on making each and every one of us suffer." Erica replied, still flatly.

Gary stood in between the two shorter players as they swapped opinions. He sighed.

"_I always try to be an optimist about everything, and while Samantha is obviously evil, she made a point." Gary said. "However, I'm not one to like making big decisions, so I prefer to let Riddle and Erica do it. There are times, however, when I feel that I'm the big voice of reason between the three of us."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The nine Ferren players walked into Tribal Council with lit torches. Walking over to the provided stumps, everyone sat down to wait for the council to begin.

"Welcome to Tribal Council, Ferren Tribe. In a moment, you'll once again be voting one of your own out of the game so that the rest of you can survive another couple of days." SSBFreak said. "Tomato, you were almost eliminated last time. How does it feel to know that everyone kept you?"

"It felt great and I want to show them that they made the right decision." Tomato said. "I know I've got my flaws, but everyone was able to look past that and kept me around. We haven't had a challenge that I could benefit from yet, but when it comes, I'll show that I'm thankful for them keeping me."

"Tempo, what were your reasons for keeping Tomato?"

"Reasons? The idiot we voted out LIT HIS OWN RAFT ON FIRE. We didn't NEED a reason to keep Tomato when Sally showed that he's a walking deathtrap." Tempo replied. "That being said, Tomato shouldn't have gotten more than one vote, but Samantha joined up with Sally and tried to get her voted out."

"It's called protecting my alliance, Tempo." Samantha said. "You should try it sometime."

"You're leading your alliance members along so that they'll vote for you in the end!"

"You have no proof."

"Whatever." Tempo rolled his eyes.

"Samantha, what's your take on this?"

"Everyone just assumes that because I look like this, I'm evil. In case you forgot, there WERE some good-natured people in the Beldam's world." Samantha folded her arms.

"Who are now all dead, in case you forgot." Erica muttered.

"Anke, what do you think were aiding factors into why you lost the challenge?"

"There weren't really a lot of factors. The other team just pulled a fast one on us and caught us off guard." Anke shrugged. "By the way, we were planning on trying something like that as well, but the other team beat us to it."

"Chloe, how do you think the vote will go tonight?"

"My alliance and I are voting for Samantha for obvious reasons. We need to take her out now before she gets power." Chloe said.

"Cover up your ideals, why don't you?" Samantha folded her arms.

"I'm only speaking the truth. It's obvious that you're trying to use people here." Chloe said.

"Well, I think that's enough questions. It's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Riddle, you're up."

Riddle got up, left the hut and went over to the voting table. The green alien wrote a name down and put it into the urn before walking away.

Tomato bit her lip as she approached the table, but remained silent as she wrote a name down. The young girl placed the ballot into the jar and left.

Samantha wrote a name down and showed Anke's name on her vote. "You're weak, sister. We need to cut you now." She said.

Tempo approached the table and wrote a name down. "Not even a hard choice." He said as he voted and left the table.

Robert looked sad as he wrote a name down. "I don't like doing this." He said as he finally voted and left the table.

Gary appeared to be in thought, but quickly made up his mind and wrote a name down before voting and walking away.

Anke wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You'll become too much of a threat if we don't take you out now." She said, having voted for Samantha.

Chloe quickly wrote a name down and placed it into the urn. Without making a sound, she retreated back to the hut.

Erica gave a sigh as she wrote a name on her ballot. Taking a moment to second-guess herself, she put the ballot into the urn.

After everyone had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Samantha." Samantha folded her arms.

"…Anke." Anke's eyes widened in surprise.

"Anke. She leads." Anke held her breath.

"Samantha. We're tied again." Samantha remained silent, but looked cross.

"Samantha. She leads." The council was silent.

"Samantha. It's 4-2." Samantha was starting to look mad.

"Anke." Anke bit her lip and held Chloe's hand.

"Anke. We're tied again." Neither of the two players in question said a word. The tension was too thick. "Last vote and second person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Anke. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Anke sighed as she stood up, leaving an unbelieving Chloe and Tempo sitting there. "Win this for me guys. Okay?" She said timidly as she approached the host.

"Anke, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Anke's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"I wish it didn't end this way." Anke sighed as she walked out of Tribal Council.

Once Anke was gone, SSBFreak looked at the remaining players. "Two have fallen. Eighteen remain after the dust settles from an intense Tribal Council." He said. "I'd say that some of you have some questions while others have answers. I'll leave it up to you to get things sorted out. You can all head back to camp."

The remaining eight Ferren players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Tempo brought up the rear, looking disappointed in himself. He had failed to bring his entire alliance deep into the game and now one of his allies had to pay for simply being in the way of the intended target.

"_I'm…I'm sad that my journey is over so soon. I was really wanting to go the distance here. Going out second isn't…Isn't what I wanted." Anke said, wiping her eyes. "I wish Chloe and Tempo luck, though. They need to take Samantha out before more people fall to her like I did."_

**Voting History:**

**Anke – Erica, Gary, Riddle, Robert and Samantha**

**Samantha – Anke, Chloe, Tempo and Tomato**

Author's Notes: Anke was always going to be an early boot, mainly because I knew right from the start that I'd have a harder time making her interesting compared to the others. She came off as a sweet girl, but she ended up overshadowed by the bigger personalities and paid for it in the end.


	4. Days 7 to 9

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_I'm not a happy panda right now. My best friend out here just got eliminated over the one we ALL know is trying to control us." Chloe folded her arms. "Why the heck would people actually WANT to keep Samantha over Anke? And it was so close, too! One vote and we would have gotten rid of Samantha!"_

"Well, that didn't go as well as I had hoped." Tempo sighed.

"I really thought we'd have the numbers. Why would they keep Samantha?" Chloe asked.

"Believe me, Chloe. I'm just as stunned as you are." Tempo said. "But we need to find out who voted for Anke before we start accusing people."

"_Yes, the others stabbed our alliance in the back tonight, but the last thing we want is to alienate ourselves by accusing the wrong people." Tempo said. "Tonight's loss was tough, but I don't want to get eliminated for overreacting."_

Meanwhile, Erica was sitting in the shelter, looking a little disappointed. Riddle approached her. "What's on your mind?" He asked.

"Riddle, why exactly did we keep Samantha?" Erica asked. "I mean, it's obvious she's evil, so why not just get rid of her now?"

"Answer this, Erica: If someone is clearly not liked by the tribe majority and doesn't hold any power, then what would that make them?" Riddle quizzed.

"A free pass." Erica sighed.

"Correct. In addition, Tempo had an alliance with the two small girls, so wouldn't that make them a bigger threat in the long run?"

"_Erica is a little upset that we didn't vote out Samantha, and she's probably more upset with the fact that it was a close vote and it could have gone either way." Riddle said. "I believe the decision to keep Samantha is good in the long run because we could get rid of her whenever we wanted to."_

"_I'm mad that it came down to one vote because I realize now that I could have simply changed my vote to Samantha and we would have gotten rid of her just like that." Erica moaned. "Had I known that Tomato was going to vote for Samantha, I probably would have joined her."_

The smaller tribe of eight decided to go to bed. If there was a challenge the next day, they needed to be ready for it…

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 7)**

"_I know we don't want to admit it, but a lot of people are intimidated here. Angela formed an alliance with two of our strongest players, which means it would be stupid to go after any of them this early." Danglars pointed out. "However, I want to try and get on Angela's good side to see if she'll vote for someone not on my alliance first."_

"Uh…Hey, Angela?" Danglars asked as he approached his target.

"You need something?" Angela asked. "I'm in the middle of trying to find the wood that went missing."

"I was…Uh…Wondering if you'd consider voting for Fran-CINE or Corey if we go to Trial Council." Danglars said.

Angela paused, then looked at Danglars. "Why would I do that?" She asked.

"Because Fran-CINE doesn't do anything around here and, you have to admit, Corey talks everyone's ears off."

"_Danglars approached me and asked if I would consider voting for some people I'm not targeting." Angela said, folding her arms. "He unfortunately doesn't realize that my goal is to take the strongest further into the game. I have to say that I pity him for aligning with the weaker players, because he seems fairly strong."_

"Just think it over. It's not like we'd be losing anything important by voting out Fran-CINE, and you're way stronger than Corey anyway." Danglars insisted.

"How would you know that? We haven't had any real strength challenges, yet." Angela said.

"Uh…Um…" Danglars fumbled with his words.

"Danglars, you're relatively strong. I respect you for now. Don't ruin it for yourself." Angela warned.

"Got it." Danglars said as he sulked off.

Angela shook her head as she went over to where Amy and Brock were standing by the lake.

"What did he want?" Amy asked.

"Nothing." Angela said.

"_Like I said, I respect Danglars for now. That doesn't mean I'll vote with him." Angela shrugged._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 7)**

"Hey, Tomato? Can we talk?" Erica asked as she approached the older girl, who was standing by the lake.

"Sure. What is it?" Tomato asked.

"Why did you make the move to vote out Samantha?" Erica asked. "I thought you, of all people, would have opted to vote off someone giving you allergy attacks."

"Oh. Is that why you guys voted Anke out?"

"_I'll admit that it's nice to have one-less person around giving me allergies, but I thought Samantha needed to go more out of the two." Tomato said. "It obviously didn't go that way, but I'm still glad that there's only two people here that will cause me to start sneezing. Maybe…Maybe I SHOULD go after one of them next…"_

"So what are you guys doing now?" Tomato asked.

"Riddle's trying to pitch the idea of voting out Chloe next since she's the other weakest member of the tribe." Erica said.

"Will it work?"

"We've lost both Immunity Challenges so far. If it'll stop the streak, then I'm willing to try it." Erica shrugged.

Meanwhile, Riddle was sitting on a log, looking in thought. Gary took notice. "Something bothering you, Riddle?" He asked.

"I'm a little uncertain. Last night, I assured myself that keeping Samantha was best for the tribe." Riddle admitted. "Looking at what happened, I'm not sure now."

"_I love puzzles, but not the ones that make me second-guess myself later on. I thought voting out a weak player would do us good, but now I'm thinking that it wasn't a smart choice." Riddle admitted. "Voting out Anke appears to have made my alliance enemies out of Tempo and Chloe, and even Erica is acting a little more-negative than I would like."_

"Riddle, you told me yourself that we could vote Samantha out whenever we wanted, right?" Gary quizzed. "That makes her less of a threat, right?"

Riddle gave a nod. "Indeed, and the others were in a strong alliance." He admitted.

"There you go. Sounds like a good reason for me." Gary insisted. "Just don't think about it. You did what you thought you needed to do and I'm sure it'll pay off in the long run."

Riddle couldn't help but smile. "I appreciate that, Gary."

"_It's in my nature to cheer up people that are feeling down. I mean, I can't remember that last time I was real mad about anything. I should know how to cheer people up." Gary admitted. "Others may be remembered for their scheming and negativity, but I want to be remembered for my friendliness."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

Brock watched as Zeg tried to make a fire. Since the tribe's flint was still useless, they were forced to let Zeg try and make without it, since he had claimed to know how to do it.

"You could teach us to make a fire, you know." Brock supplied.

"I know, but it's a difficult procedure." Zeg insisted. "I can't just teach you how to do it after one try."

"I'm a fast learner." Brock said skeptically.

"_I want to make sure I'm the only one that knows how to make fire without flint. It'll make them want to keep me around." Zeg explained. "I know it's not much, but when you consider I accidentally shot the host, I need to take anything I can."_

"Let's see…I think I need to do it this way…" Zeg mused. "Or was it…This way?"

As Zeg continued to work on the fire, Brock turned to the person sitting next to him, Corey. "Corey, you're a determined player, aren't you?" He asked.

"Ya kidding? Little ol' me once had to stay up fer three days so Ah could catch sum pervert bandits that were tryin' ta get into the house every night." Corey insisted.

"Uh…Why were they trying to get into the house?" Brock asked.

Corey's expression suddenly turned dark. "They were tryin' ta make off with mah little sister. When Ah finally caught them, it weren't pretty." She said.

Brock blinked. "So…Now for my initial proposition." He said. "How about an alliance?"

Corey brightened up instantly. "Sure thing!"

"_I want to have a secondary alliance just in case the one I have with Angela goes south. If the others vote her out because of her negativity, then I need a backup plan." Brock explained. "Corey's one of the strongest people here, and she's friendly to boot. I don't see her getting targeted for a while, and this will give me the chance to join her should the time come."_

"_I like that Brock kid. He reminds me of mah kid brother back home: Headstrong, determined to please and full of energy." Corey said. "Of course, Brock's also got a bit more smarts than my brother does. I doubt Brock would run into a chicken coop covered in corn just fer the fun of it…Remember that, bro? Golly, that was hilarious!" She laughed._

Zeg continued to work on the fire as the others talked. He was so wrapped up in trying to make the fire that he wasn't hearing what was going on around him. "Oh! I think I got a spark!...Oh, wait. That's a shine from the sun…"

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"You want to join us for our next vote?" Tempo asked.

"Yeah. We need votes and we know YOU need votes." Samantha said. "Temporarily joining forces to whittle away at the majority alliance would be ideal, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah! It'll be fun!" Robert interjected. He was ignored.

"_Since Tempo and Chloe are down a member in their alliance, this gives Robert and I the chance to move in." Samantha pointed out. "It's obvious that they don't trust me, but that's fine. Once we take out a couple of members of the other alliance, we'll go our own ways again. They should at least see the point in what I'm trying to tell them."_

"If you think we're going to join you after you voted out my friend, then-" Chloe started before Tempo shushed her.

"Hang on, Chloe. Let's hear her out." Tempo said before looking at Samantha. "Look, even if we joined you, that still only leaves us with a tie."

"So we either need to be sure we can win a tiebreaker or go to Exile Island and find the idol hidden there." Samantha said. "Look, if it helps, this would be just for a while, until we get the other alliance to a manageable number."

Tempo thought for a moment. "Fine. We'll call a truce for now." He said. "But we don't decide on a target until we have a challenge."

"Fine by me. Glad we had this conversation." Samantha nodded as she and Robert walked off.

Chloe looked up at Tempo. "I don't like this." She said.

"Neither do I, but we're outnumbered at the moment." Tempo admitted.

"_I really don't want to join forces with the person that voted out Anke, but like Tempo said, it's getting to the point where we don't have a choice." Chloe folded her arms. "I'm glad that the partnership is temporary, because as soon as it's done, I wanna vote out Samantha for what she did."_

As they were walking away, Robert looked at Samantha. "You don't trust them, do you?" He asked.

"Of course not. They're planning to backtab me the instant we're through with the deal." Samantha said.

"Why would they do that if you offered to join them?"

"Because they're evil, Robert." Samantha replied casually. "You need to know who you're talking to when you talk to them."

"_Why can't we all just get along?" Robert shrugged._

The two tribes, knowing that there would be a challenge the next day, went to bed when night hit. They felt that they needed as much energy as they could get.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 8)**

"_We're hoping that we're having a Reward Challenge today. We haven't won Reward yet and we could use whatever is offered." Amy pointed out. "I'm personally hoping that the Reward is blankets or some bags of rice. We could definitely use something like that around here."_

"You thinking that we're going to have a challenge?" Amy asked Angela.

"I'm certain that we will be. We just need to hope that the challenge will benefit us." Angela said. "We've won all the Immunities so far."

"But not Reward. We could use a Reward win." Amy pointed out.

Angela paused, then nodded. "You're right. It would make life around here easier." She admitted.

Fran-CINE, sitting nearby, appeared to be in thought. Angela noticed this. "I hope you'll try your hardest in the challenge." Angela said. "No matter what type of challenge it is, we need to win."

"Whatever. Don't worry. I know that you people want to win these things." Fran-CINE shrugged. "Yeah, I'll try to win. I mean, that's what we all want, right?"

"I would certainly hope so."

"_If it's a Reward Challenge, you know I'm going to try my hardest to win. Depending on what the reward is, I could use a little more fun with making life hard for everyone out here." Fran-CINE said. "Whatever the reward is, I hope it's something I can break or destroy. That would be a good show for me."_

"We've got some treemail, guys!" Danglars announced as he walked into camp.

Kenal made his way over. "I don't suppose if it says anything about what type of challenge it is?" He asked.

"No. It's asking if we're good diggers." Danglars replied.

This seemed to make Zeg's face light up. "Alright! We've got this in the bag!" He said. "I can dig faster than anyone!"

"That's just you. How about the rest of us?" Angela asked.

"I'm afraid digging isn't something I'm good at. I may have to sit out." Kenal pointed out.

"Okay. We'll have to sit a second person out as well." Angela said. "We'll decide when we get there."

"_Finally! Something I'm good at! I'll admit that my accuracy is poor because I'm half-blind, but my digging is second to none!" Zeg said confidently. "If the whole challenge revolves around digging, then we're sure to win! I honestly can't think of anyone that would be able to dig like me."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 8)**

"So you're an excellent digger?" Gary asked.

"Yes. My special form is a mole, so I naturally got some extra digging abilities for it." Tomato rubbed her head nervously.

"_I have to say that, while she's shy, Tomato's a pretty interesting person to talk to. I know little about her and where she comes from, so I just smile and nod while she talks." Gary chuckled. "I know that she's trying to impress people out here, so I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt. Erica will likely see things my way, but the only real question is Riddle…"_

Meanwhile, Riddle was off talking to Erica, trying to patch things up with her.

"I can understand how angry you must be, Erica." Riddle said.

"Of course. We could have gotten rid of Samantha and be done with it." Erica pointed out.

"Are you certain that going after Samantha right now is the best thing to do?" Riddle asked.

"Riddle, it's clear that she's evil. You're obsessed with puzzles; You should know this."

"I am. However, Tempo had formed an alliance with the girls and we needed to take down their numbers before they ganged up on us." Riddle reminded. "I do not wish to anger an alliance partner here, so I'd like to tell you the next phase of the plan."

"Which is?"

"We'll focus on Chloe next."

"_Riddle told me what the plan was, and I'm okay with it. Samantha's a free pass, or at least that's what Riddle calls her, so we'll focus on taking down the opposing majority alliance first." Erica said. "That being said, I'm glad that we'll have Tomato on our side this time. If anything, it gives us a slight edge."_

"Looks like we've got treemail." Chloe said as she approached the others with a letter.

"Reward or Immunity?" Riddle asked.

"Doesn't say. We've got a digging challenge ahead of us."

Gary smiled down at Tomato. "Now's your chance to show us what you can do." He said.

"_I'm glad that we've got a challenge revolving around digging coming up. This will allow me to show my skills and prove to the others that I'm an asset." Tomato pointed out. "I just hope that we don't have any real competition in the digging department on the other team…"_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The Ventala Tribe stood on their mat, which was near one of the beaches of the island. The Ferren mat was again empty.

"Before we start, let's bring out the Ferren Tribe." SSBFreak said as the opposing tribe walked into view, showing that a certain small monkey girl was no longer with them. "Anke was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Overall, the Ventala Tribe looked indifferent. No one looked real surprised at the outcome as the Ferren Tribe stepped onto their mat.

"Welcome to today's Reward Challenge, everyone. Here, we will see how good you are at finding things in the sand." SSBFreak said. The large beach behind the host was expansive, and people were guessing that whatever they were looking for was buried in the sand there. "In the sand of the beach, there are eight emblems for each team buried. The object is simple: Find all eight of your tribe's emblems before the opposing tribe does the same. However, if you find an emblem, you aren't allowed to go back to find another. Everyone searching needs to find an emblem. The first team to collect all eight of their emblems will win Reward, which is a large mattress, big enough for the entire team."

The two tribes looked amongst each other. They could use a mattress…

"Ventala, you have two extra people this time." SSBFreak said. "Who will be sitting out?"

"Kenal and Kendall." Amy said.

"Okay. If you're all ready, we can begin right away."

The sixteen players that were participating got ready to run.

"For Reward, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

The sixteen contestants raced past the host and onto the beach. They jumped into the sand and started digging, trying to find the emblems they were looking for. It quickly became chaos as everyone was scrambling to find the emblems hidden in the sand.

It became obvious fairly quickly that Tomato and Zeg were the best diggers of the bunch and were digging at an accelerated rate, covering much more ground than anyone else. They burrowed their way through the sand, moving onto another location to look before anyone else was even close to moving on.

Zeg dug a hole in the sand at least a foot and a half across in a matter of seconds, not noticing that Tomato was digging just as fast. Of course, no one else digging seemed to notice them either, and the only ones that did were SSBFreak, Kenal and Kendall.

"I didn't think those two would be such good diggers." Kenal pointed out.

Kendall gave a shrug. "It's just digging." He reasoned.

It didn't take long at all for the two fast diggers to find what they needed. Although both of them emerged from the sand with an emblem at the same time, Zeg was a faster runner than Tomato and beat her to the mats. Nevertheless, they both scored for their teams.

"Zeg and Tomato bring both teams on the board." SSBFreak announced.

"We can't go out there again to help the others?" Tomato asked.

"No. You're done."

Tomato sighed as she and Zeg watched the others continue to go through the sand.

"I found one!" Brock cheered as he leapt out of the sand, holding an emblem. He raced over to the mat and stood with Zeg.

"Ventala leads 2-1." SSBFreak explained.

"Pick up the pace! We need to find those emblems!" Samantha directed.

A few seconds later and Tempo managed to find an emblem for his tribe, but as he was climbing out of the sand, Mongo found an emblem as well.

"Eat dirt, prettyboy!" Mongo jeered as she flew past the surprised Tempo on the way to her tribe's mat.

"Ventala leads 3-2."

Angela managed to dig out an emblem, only to see that it was one of Ferren's. Angela quickly buried it again and moved on to another spot. "There has to be some around here somewhere." She mused to herself.

Angela wasn't the only one having problems with the challenge. Several of the others were constantly going to new places to dig after coming up empty with the place they had chosen. All anyone could do at this point was hope they found some emblems soon.

Riddle managed to locate an emblem and inspected it. "It appears that this emblem carries my tribe's colour." He said with a smirk as he got out of the sand and rushed over to his mat.

However, as Riddle was doing do, both Angela and Corey found an emblem and climbed out of the sand themselves.

"Way ta go, partner!" Corey cheered Angela as the two women rushed to their mat together.

"Glad that's done." Angela noted.

"Ventala increases their lead to 5-3."

This left Amy, Fran-CINE and Danglars digging for Ventala while Ferren still had Samantha, Chloe, Robert, Gary and Erica searching. With the amount of emblems decreasing, people were getting frustrated at how they weren't finding anything yet.

"Brock, who do you think will win?" SSBFreak asked.

"It could go either way, even though we're winning." Brock replied. "I don't want to get too confident, because the tide of a challenge like this can turn at any point."

"Tomato, you and Zeg finished that pretty quickly."

"My other form gives me natural digging abilities, and I'm sure Zeg's a natural digger himself." Tomato explained. "I was honestly hoping for a challenge like this."

"I found one! Freaking finally!"

Everyone turned to watch as Samantha emerged from the beach and ran over to her mat with one of her emblems.

"Ferren scores, but they still trail 5-4."

"Come on! How is it this hard just to find an emblem in the sand?" Chloe muttered.

"Any luck, yet?" Danglars asked Amy.

Amy stared at him flatly. "Would I be standing here digging in the sand if I found an emblem?" She asked.

"Uh…No?"

"Good answer."

Fran-CINE was actually putting effort into the challenge, if only for the opportunity to use the Reward to have fun with her tribe. That being said, she still hadn't found anything yet, but she kept searching.

Suddenly, Gary managed to stumble upon one of his tribe's emblems. Grabbing it and getting out of the sand, the older man ran over to his mat and stepped on.

"Ferren ties the game 5-5."

"We caught up! We're still in this!" Gary said.

"Not likely. Look." Tempo said, pointing towards the beach.

Everyone turned and saw both Amy and Fran-CINE running towards the mats, each with an emblem. The two red girls got onto their mat and scored two points.

"Never mind. Ventala takes the lead again 7-5."

This left Danglars facing off against Chloe, Robert and Erica all by himself. Needless to say, Danglars was starting to feel pressure.

"Come on! Just one more!" Amy called out.

"Don't screw it up!" Mongo said. The others in her tribe looked at her flatly. "What?"

The remaining four players continued to dig in the sand, trying to find the last emblems. The tension was thick and everyone on both teams was hoping that their players would find the emblems first.

Suddenly, Erica managed to find an emblem. The green-haired girl rushed off the beach, but only made it a few steps towards the mats when she heard another voice.

"I've got it! I've got it!"

Erica looked back and saw Danglars getting out of the sand and racing towards her with his tribe's last emblem. Erica managed to beat Danglars to the mat, but it hardly mattered.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ventala wins Reward!"

The Ventala Tribe cheered as Danglars grasped his knees in relief.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Ventala. Your reward, the large mattress, will be sent to your camp and will be there when you get back." SSBFreak said to the winning team. "In addition, you can now send one of your own to Exile Island for a day. Who is going?"

"I will." Kendall volunteered.

SSBFreak looked at the losing tribe. "Ferren, I don't have anything for you today. Hopefully, you'll be able to pull things together for the Immunity Challenge tomorrow." He said. "You can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_We completely rocked that challenge and it was a challenge that I was leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else in! Maybe now people will see me as an asset to the team." Zeg said happily. "The only thing that bothers me is that Tomato girl on the other tribe. She can apparently dig just as fast as I can, and that will make her a tough rival to beat."_

"Wow. That's a big mattress." Brock said as he saw the mattress sitting in the shelter.

"Well, I guess it's supposed to be big enough for ten people." Danglars scratched his head. "Still, we'll be needing that."

"Yeah. Ah dun really git much sleep if Ah don't sleep on somethin' soft." Corey said before starting another story. "One time, mah little brother dared me ta sleep in the chicken coop fer the night, but Ah couldn't git ta sleep until Ah used a chicken as a pillow."

Brock blinked. "Uh…How did that go?" He asked.

"Well, Ah think the chicken was okay with it…That is until Ah tried ta fluff it." Corey rubbed her head.

Angela shook her head as she looked at the shelter. "It's good that we won the challenge, but it could have been close." She admitted. "If we didn't get that lead at the start, we probably would have lost."

"Look. The point is that we won, right?" Fran-CINE asked, looking bored.

"Yes. I guess that's the main thing."

"_I don't care about these challenges, but when I heard what the reward was, I wanted to try and help win it just so I could torment these fleshbags even more." Fran-CINE said with a smirk. "But now that we have it, here's the biggest question: Should I light it on fire, tear it to shreds or something completely different?"_

"Do you think Kendall will find the idol out there on the island?" Zeg asked Danglars.

Danglars gave a shrug. "We can always hope. If he finds it, he'll tell us." He replied.

"Would we need the idol if he finds it?"

"I don't know. We'll need to pay better attention."

"_With Kendall on Exile Island, we need to hope that he finds the idol out there. We know it's a long shot, but if we get outnumbered, it's our best chance." Danglars admitted. "Of course, we don't really know who we would target if we got the idol, but at this point, we'll probably take any option we get."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Well, we lost the challenge…AGAIN. Seriously, we've only won ONE challenge so far and it was a Reward Challenge." Erica rolled her eyes. "I blame the fact that the bunch of us are so dysfunctional, but then again, I have no idea what's going on at the other tribe. They just seem more coordinated than us."_

"Seriously! Why can't we just WIN something?" Erica asked.

"The bigger question is what's keeping us from winning the challenges in the first place." Riddle folded his arms.

"If you ask me, I think it's because whatever strengths we have, the other team has bigger strengths." Erica said. "I mean, look at Tomato. She dug real fast, but the other team has that mole!"

"Yeah. I…Wasn't really expecting any opposition when it came to digging." Tomato said sheepishly.

"Honestly, how could you have taken so long?" Samantha asked Chloe. "All you needed to do was dig!"

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "The challenge came down to pure luck!" She insisted. "You can NOT blame this on me!"

"I'm sure you're just saying that to get yourself out of this." Samantha folded her arms.

"Like anyone would believe YOU!"

Gary quickly got in between the feud and held the two apart. "Look, we're all on the same team here. We don't want to get even more-dysfunctional than we already are." He explained. "That's probably why we keep losing."

Samantha narrowed her eyes. "I know you're just taking her side, Gary." She said. "That's not a smart move."

With that, Samantha turned and walked off, Robert following her loyally.

"_Gah! So much for that. I was trying to make Chloe lose it so we could have a potential goat for the future, but Gary chose that time to step in." Samantha folded her arms. "If he wasn't so unbelievably strong, I'd try to get rid of him so I'd have an easier time taking the target off my back."_

"Why did you get mad at her?" Robert asked confusedly as Samantha sat down on a rock. "I mean, I was still digging at the end as well."

"I know, and that's why I singled out Chloe." Samantha said with a smile. "I want to try and get attention off of you so they keep you around."

"But…I thought we were aligned with her."

"Just for now. As soon as we cut all ties with the alliance, we're voting her out." Samantha said. "Not you know why I wanted to help you back there."

Robert instantly brightened up. "Oh! That was nice of you, Sammy! Thanks!" He said.

"Don't mention it. Seriously."

"_Isn't she a great friend? She was trying to help me when I didn't do as well in the challenge!" Robert said brightly._

**(Exile Island)**

"So this is Exile…"

Kendall looked around the island he had been left on. Seeing a shelter provided nearby, Kendall walked over and sat down underneath the ceiling of it.

"Time for me to get to work." Kendall said as he grabbed some nearby sticks.

"_To be frank, I don't care about the idol yet. I don't need it; Not yet, anyway. No, the reason I wanted to come here was so I could work on a FAKE idol." Kendall admitted with a smirk. "I need to get the better of my tribe-mates, and I think a fake idol will help me do it."_

Kendall strung the wood together, forming a necklace. "Okay. Not bad if I do say so myself." He said. "Well…Now what? I don't feel like searching for the real idol now that I've made this…"

The lanky chimp paused in thought, weighing his options. Suddenly, he gave a smirk. "Oh, this is going to be good." He said as he raced off to find more material.

It didn't take long for Kendall to find what he needed. In the blink of an eye, he was back under the shelter and doing some more construction work.

"_After I made my fake idol, I figured, why stop there? I constructed a SECOND fake idol, and I intend to plant it here for the next sucker that comes here." Kendall said with a smirk. "I'll plant it in an easy to find spot and write a fake note. It shouldn't take me long to do."_

Kendall finished work on his second idol, this one looking more like an idol than a necklace. Taking some of the flint he had been provided with, Kendall started writing on it, trying to make his message sound legit.

Kendall inspected his idol and smirked before looking around the island. "Now where should I hide it?" He asked himself.

Eventually finding a hiding place for his idol, Kendall went over to the treemail box and put his handmade note inside it with the real one. "Hopefully, no one will be the wiser." He said.

Night eventually rolled in. Everyone knew that there was an Immunity Challenge the next day, and they needed to be ready for it.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 9)**

"_Okay. We've got a challenge today and we know that we gotta win it. Of course, I don't really trust half of these people to carry us all to the end, so I need to step it up." Mongo pointed out. "But man. I just hope we aren't in for another physical task. That bald guy the other team has is a stone wall!"_

"I think it's going to be a physical task." Mongo said. "It's been a while."

"It's only been a couple of challenges." Kenal supplied.

"That's long for this show! We're going to have another physical challenge and the other team is going to screw us over!" Mongo said, holding her head in frustration.

If Kenal had eyes, he would have blinked in confusion. "Uh…If I'm being honest, you aren't making any sense." He said.

"Don't you start with me!"

"_I'm…Pretty sure Mongo means well, but she just has the tendency to say what's on her mind, and that could be a severe curse if said at the wrong time." Kenal said. "I'm just thankful that she's apparently smart enough not to talk like that around Angela. There's no telling how far one of Mongo's talks would set her off…"_

Meanwhile, Angela and Amy were talking by the shelter. Angela looked around for something, or rather someone.

"Where's Brock? I haven't really seen him with us a whole lot." Angela said.

"I think he said he was going to try and get us a few extra votes." Amy supplied. "Why? Did he tell you?"

"No. No, he didn't." Angela said darkly.

"_I don't like it when someone goes behind my back to do some planning on the side. If Brock is indeed trying to get us some more help, then I'll let it slide this time." Angela said. "However, this doesn't change that he's still trying something without telling me. I need to keep an eye on him."_

"We've got treemail!" Zeg announced as he entered camp with a letter.

"What challenge are we up against?" Amy asked.

"It's wondering if we're any good at puzzles." Zeg said.

"See? Not a physical task." Kenal said to Mongo.

"It COULD have been." Mongo said, folding her arms.

"_I was actually hoping we'd have another physical challenge. I wouldn't mind having a rematch against Gary. He's really strong for a guy his age." Amy said. "Still, I know that neither of us are going anywhere for a while, so at least I would have future challenges to look forward to."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 9)**

"Could you tell me why Samantha singled me out after yesterday's challenge?" Chloe asked as she and Tempo walked along the lake. "The last I checked, SHE came to US."

"Because she doesn't intend to stick with us after everything's said and done." Tempo replied. "After this temporary alliance is over, she'll likely come gunning for you."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Like I'm going to let THAT happen."

"_Samantha's already trying to throw me under the bus and we've only just joined forces. What kind of stupid idea is that?" Chloe asked. "Thankfully, Tempo and I already know this, so maybe if we can get rid of Samantha before she has a chance to sell us out later, then we'll be in a good spot."_

"_I'll be frank; I don't like Samantha and I don't think anyone else here does, with the exception of Robert." Tempo pointed out. "However, the other alliance outnumbers us and we need her vote. But she knows that and intends to use it to her advantage. She thinks she can get away with talking down to us now, but we'll get her back later."_

"So what do we do now?" Chloe asked.

"Do our best in the Immunity Challenge and try to avoid losing." Tempo said. "We can't afford to put ourselves at a greater disadvantage."

"I know."

Meanwhile, Riddle was walking over to the treemail box, alone for once. The green alien appeared to be in thought.

"_Throughout the game, I've been asking myself questions, such as if I'm making the right decision in choosing to boot Chloe next." Riddle said. "I know my alliance outnumbers the other at the moment, so what's stopping me from just getting rid of Samantha? Gary reminded me, and that's because she's a free pass, but to this day I'm still second-guessing myself. I never do that."_

Riddle reached into the treemail box and pulled out an envelope. "The Immunity Challenge." He said to himself. "Very well."

Riddle returned to camp and announced that treemail had arrived. Everyone quicly gathered around him.

"What're we gunna do today?" Robert asked excitedly.

"It's…Wondering if we're good at puzzles." Riddle said before smirking. "Finally. My kind of challenge."

"Aw. I was never any good at puzzles." Robert said, his ears drooping. No one was surprised.

"_I'm a little worried. I always hated puzzles, especially those puzzles with the five-hundred pieces. How is anyone supposed to get anywhere with those?" Robert asked._

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The two tribes emerged from the jungle and walked into a clearing. Quickly spotting their mats on the ground, the teams walked over and stepped on, hoping to get the challenge over with.

"Before we begin, let's bring out Kendall, who is returning from Exile Island." SSBFreak said. Kendall casually walked in from the side and joined his team as the host continued. "Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge. Here, we will see how good you are at solving a difficult puzzle." He said. The two tribes saw two large puzzle areas on a man-made wall, with two red dots, two green dots and two blue dots surrounding the frames. "The goal of this challenge is to connect all of the dots surrounding the frame of your puzzle, and you have to match the colours, so you have to connect the red dots to each other and so on. To connect them, you need to use the pieces provided, which consist solely of lines pertaining to the three colours. Some are straight, some are bent and there are some pieces where two different colours intersect. All of the pieces are in the right place, so all you need to do is figure out which way the pieces go. Whoever connects all of the dots the right way will win Immunity and be safe from Tribal Council."

The two teams exchanged glances, knowing that this challenge would be a real rough one if they didn't know how to do it properly.

"Ventala, you have two extra people. Who is sitting out?" SSBFreak asked.

"Fran-CINE and I will." Brock said.

"Okay. If everyone else will approach their puzzles, we'll start."

Everyone else walked over to their puzzles, quickly noticing that they were angled so they didn't have a view of their opponents' field. Nevertheless, they got ready for the challenge.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

The sixteen participating players quickly went to work on their puzzle, wondering where they should start.

"Focus on the red line first." Riddle suggested.

"Are you kidding? The red dots are the furthest away from each other!" Samantha pointed out.

"The dots that are closer are always the hardest to connect." Riddle assured.

"We'll go with it for now." Gary said. "Now, look at the square in front of one of the dots."

The team looked at the piece and saw that the line was L-Shaped, meaning that there were two directions the line could connect.

"Which way does it go?" Chloe asked.

"Let's try moving it this way for now and see if we can go anywhere with it." Gary said as he turned the piece, connecting the dot.

Meanwhile, the Ventala Tribe was trying to connect the blue dots, the two dots that appeared closest together.

"Maybe this piece goes this way." Zeg suggested, turning a piece.

"That doesn't leave us with a possible way to connect the dots." Kenal replied.

"You sure? Maybe it's just gotta go a bit longer."

"Look! We're getting nowhere!" Mongo said. "Can't we just move onto a different line?"

"I agree. If we waste too much time, then we'll fall behind." Angela nodded.

"Hang on! I think I've got this!" Zeg insisted.

The Ferren Tribe was continuing to work on their puzzle, but was also running into some problems.

"Oh, crap! I think we made a mistake at the start!" Chloe said. "Look!"

"She's right. We can't connect the dots like this. We've run out of space." Tempo agreed.

"Go back to the first square and try going in the other direction." Tomato suggested. "That has to be where we made our mistake."

"We need to act fast! The other team has a lead!" Erica urged.

Gary, the tallest of the team, rotated the first square so that it was facing another direction. "Where do we go from here?" He asked.

"The next two panels are straight lines, so they're easy." Riddle pointed out. "But we've got an intersection of two colours coming up."

Meanwhile, the Ventala Tribe hadn't made much progress, and that was because they were still working on the one line.

"Zeg, this is taking too long! We need to move on!" Danglars urged.

"Just a minute! I've almost got it!" Zeg said.

Angela growled. "We don't have time for this. Let's just move onto another colour and let Zeg handle this one." She insisted.

"Sounds like an idea, partner." Corey nodded.

Leaving Zeg to work on the first colour alone, the rest of Ventala moved onto the next colour.

"Okay. This one here is easy to start with." Kenal said, pointing out one of the other coloured lines. "The only thing connected to the dot is a straight line, so it can only go one way."

"Both teams are working hard, but they've both run into some problems." SSBFreak said before turning to the two non-competing players. "How do you two think this will end up?"

"With challenges like this, you never know." Brock shrugged. "I mean, I'm really hoping that our team can win, but at the moment it looks close."

"The tides change in the blink of an eye." Fran-CINE reminded.

"I know. That's why I'm hoping we pull off the win."

Meanwhile, the Ferren Tribe had just managed to complete the red line, connecting the two red dots. The team had by now moved onto the green dots.

"Where do you think this square would go?" Robert asked.

"It's an intersection with the blue line. Where do you THINK it's going to go?" Erica asked flatly.

"Uh…"

"You know what? Never mind." Erica said as she rotated the square and put it into place.

"What about this turning piece?" Tempo asked. "Up or down?"

"Look ahead of it. If it goes up, it'll collide with the red line." Samantha pointed out. "Turn it down."

Meanwhile, not a lot of progress had been made on Ventala's side. Most of the tribe hadn't gotten very far on the line they were working on while Zeg was still trying to piece the original line together by himself.

"I think that piece is going the wrong way." Kendall pointed out.

"It can't be. If it goes the other way, we won't have the right set of pieces to connect." Angela insisted.

"Whereas if it goes the other way, it will end up going straight into the top of the frame!"

The Ventala Tribe froze as they looked at the line again. "Oh, crap! He's right!" Danglars stated. "We made a wrong turn early on!"

Angela growled. "I hate this! I hate making these kind of mistakes!" She said as she backtracked.

Zeg examined the line he was working on. He only had a few squares left to connect, but he was wondering how to take the path.

"If I take this way…No, that won't work…" Zeg mused. "What about this way?"

The Ferren Tribe was moving surprisingly-well. They looked well on their way to connecting the two green dots and showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, they were looking rather excited that they were doing it so fast.

"And…That's it! The green line's done!" Chloe said.

"That just leaves the blue line. That was the shortest distance between the two dots, right?" Gary asked.

Riddle nodded. "Indeed, but look at this. There are two intersections with blue lines going AWAY from the target dot." He pointed out. "Even though it's the shortest distance to the dot, expect the line to be the longest."

"This shouldn't take too long." Gary noted as he went to work. "A lot of the work's already done."

Back on Ventala's side, the first line, the green one, had just been completed. Zeg was still working on the red line alone and everyone else was moving onto the blue one.

"This piece goes this way." Corey said as she turned one of the squares.

"No way! That piece leads nowhere!" Mongo insisted. "It goes the other way!"

"How d'ya know that?"

"Look at it!" Mongo pointed out. "It's going in the complete-opposite direction!"

"Girls, we're getting nowhere as it is!" Amy pointed out. "Can we PLEASE just move on?"

"She started it!" Mongo accused, pointing at Corey.

"What'd Ah do?" Corey countered.

"We need to get this done before the other team can-"

"We're done!"

Everyone on Ventala stopped and hesitantly looked at the other team's puzzle. Indeed, the Ferren Tribe had managed to complete all three coloured tracks and connected all of the right dots.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ferren wins Immunity!"

The Ferren Tribe cheered at their first Immunity victory. On Ventala's mat, Brock looked disappointed while Fran-CINE looked rather neutral.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning your first Immunity Challenge, Ferren. You are all safe from elimination and will be around at least a few more days." SSBFreak said as he turned to the losing tribe. "Ventala, for the first time, I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council tonight, where you will vote one of your own out of the game. Now you need to ask yourself who you think is holding the tribe back the most, but I'll give you the rest of the day to figure that out. You can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_Well, I made it just over a week without losing Immunity. That's pretty good, but I guess it had to end eventually." Brock sighed. "Now we need to decide who to vote out, and I want to make sure Angela's the one in charge here. That way, if the choice comes back to bite her, it'll be off the shoulders of Amy and I."_

"Amy tells me you've been talking to Corey." Angela said, a little suspicious. "Trying to get another vote?"

"Uh…Yeah. Sorry I didn't come to you earlier about it." Brock said. "The opportunity just came up and I wanted to take it."

Angela paused. "That's fine. I'll let it slide, but does this means that she'll vote with us?" She asked.

"Yeah. Corey's good for the vote, and I think Fran-CINE will vote with us so long as we don't vote for her." Brock shrugged.

"That's fine. She's not the target, anyway."

"_I think Angela's trying to think things too far. I mean, I think she's got good survival skills, don't get me wrong, but her suspicions about Brock may ruin her." Amy said. "It I wasn't here to tell her otherwise, she may think that Brock's planning something behind her back."_

Meanwhile, the other major alliance was trying to plan things out. So far, they hadn't been having much luck.

"We know they're gunning for one of us, but we don't know who." Danglars folded his arms.

"Gee, Sherlock. What tipped you off?" Mongo rolled her eyes. Danglars ignored her.

"Maybe this might help." Kendall said as he pulled an idol from behind his back.

"Where did you find that?" Mongo asked, wide-eyed.

"Where was he KEEPING it?" Danglars asked, a little weirded out.

"_So Kendall pulls out this idol that he says he found on Exile. While it's great that we have it, it'll only help us once." Danglars pointed out. "Once we use it, we need to make sure one of us is sent to Exile next so we can find it again."_

"I dug it up on Exile Island." Kendall said. "If we can figure out which of us the others are targeting, I'll give the idol to them and they'll use it."

"But…You think we can do that without the others noticing?" Zeg asked.

"I'll need to be quick and it needs to be done while one of them is answering a question." Kendall pointed out. "If I can do that, we're good."

"Sounds like a plan, then." Kenal nodded.

"_I hope this works. If we use the idol with the wrong person, then it will have been a complete waste." Zeg sighed. "Still, I'm hopeful that Kendall can pull this off without a hitch."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The ten members of Ventala walked into Tribal Council with their torches. Going over to the stumps provided, everyone sat down as they waited for Council to commence.

"Welcome to your first Tribal Council, Ventala. In a moment, you will be voting one of your own out of the game as your tribe's first casualty." SSBFreak said before asking some questions. "Corey, how's life at your tribe?"

Corey grinned. "Aw, it couldn't be better! I got a big lake so we can go swimmin' and there are a lotta trees around so we can git some food!" She explained. "Man, so far, this is kinda like life back home! Ah mean, there was this one time where-"

"Moving on." SSBFreak said as he moved to the next person. Corey continued to talk. "Amy, how is everyone getting along?"

"For the most part, it's not that bad. I think we're the stronger tribe overall, but even still, the other tribe's got Gary, someone we wouldn't have expected to be as strong as he was." Amy replied. "However, there's one thing going on that's been getting on our nerves lately."

"Care to elaborate?"

"How about you ask Angela? She seems to like talking about this subject."

"Uh…Okay. Angela, what's Amy talking about?"

"There's a saboteur in our group and is tampering with everything we've got! Our flint is ruined, our fire pit got destroyed multiple times and a lot of our fruit gets ruined!" Angela replied. Corey was still talking. "I don't know who's doing this, but they'll be sorry when I get a hold of them!"

"Angela, NONE of us know who the saboteur is." Brock reminded. He didn't get an answer.

"Zeg, you guys have won most of the challenges up until now." SSBFreak said. "Why do you think that is?"

"I think that we just received some challenges that benefited us more. That and we appear to be better coordinated." Zeg responded. "We just lost this challenge because we ended up with a challenge we didn't excel at."

"Dude, you spent the entire challenge on ONE line." Brock reminded.

"I knew I was almost done it!" Zeg insisted.

"Kenal, do you feel at a disadvantage with only one arm and limited mobility?" SSBFreak asked. Corey was still talking, but by now, everyone else had stopped listening.

"Actually, I think I've shown that I can be an asset. I know I do things a little differently, but the bottom line is that I can still do most things anyone else can." Kenal reasoned.

"Angela, how do you think the vote's going to go?"

"My alliance is voting for Zeg because he held us back at the challenge." Angela folded her arms. As Angela was talking, Kendall slipped Zeg the idol. "Plus, he's completely dangerous with anything sharp."

"Anything to add, Zeg?"

"It's not my fault I'm half-blind, you know." Zeg reminded. "I told you right off the bat."

"Um…Mongo, what's your feelings on the vote?"

Mongo gave a shrug. "As long as it isn't me." She said simply.

"…And the pipes weren't even that clean! Ah mean, how d'they expect me ta-" Corey said before Brock, sitting beside her, tapped her on the shoulder. "Oh. Uh…Are we done?"

"Yes. It's time to vote." SSBFreak nodded. "Amy, you're up."

Amy got up, left the hut and went over to the voting table to cast her ballot. The red fox girl wrote a name down and put it into the urn.

Kendall gave a smirk as he wrote a name down. "Time for me to kick things into gear." He said as he voted and left the table.

Danglars approached the table and wrote a name down. "I hope this works." He said as he put his ballot into the jar.

Zeg scribbled a name down and showed it to the camera. "Out of the opposing alliance, you're the weakest." He said, having voted for Brock.

Kenal hovered over to the table and used his claw to grab the pen and write a name down. Satisfied, he left the table.

Mongo looked a little bored, but she wrote a name down anyway. When she was done, she put the vote into the jar and left as quick as she came.

Angela looked determined as she cast her vote. "We need to whittle away at the weak." She said as she put the vote into the urn.

Brock wrote a name and turned his ballot, revealing that he had voted for Zeg. "Believe me, it's nothing personal." He apologized as he voted and left.

Fran-CINE quickly wrote a name down and cast her vote. "I wish the vote could be with someone stronger, but this will do for now." She said as she left the table.

Corey was the last one to vote. She wrote a name down, placed her ballot into the jar and left, thankfully without saying a word.

Once all ten people had voted, the host left the hut to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. "It's time to-"

"Hang on!"

Everyone looked at Zeg, who was holding the idol. He approached the host and handed it over. "I've got this idol and I'd like to play it." He said.

"No way!" Amy said. Angela growled.

However, upon inspecting the idol, SSBFreak looked at Zeg. "Zeg, this isn't the Hidden Immunity Idol." He said.

This took Zeg, as well as most of the others, by surprise. He looked at Kendall, who appeared to be just as shocked as he was. "But…Kendall said he found it on Exile!" The mole insisted.

"I did!" Kendall retorted.

"It must have been planted. This one's a fake." SSBFreak said as he tossed the fake idol into the fire. "Zeg, do you have the real one?"

"N-No. I don't." Zeg said as he returned to his seat.

"Okay. If the real idol isn't going to be played, it's time to read the votes…" SSBFreak said.

"…First vote; Zeg." Zeg looked down.

"Zeg." "There's always the tiebreaker." Kendall supplied to Zeg.

"…Brock." Brock's eyes widened in surprise.

"Zeg. He leads 3 to 1." Zeg bit his lip.

"Brock." Brock held his breath.

"…Brock. It's tied at 3."

"Zeg."

"Brock. We're tied at 4." The two contestants looked at each other nervously.

"Zeg." The contestants waited for the last vote, which they thought they knew. "…Last vote, and third person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Zeg. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Zeg's eyes widened. "But…It was supposed to be five-on-five!" He insisted. The other people that supposedly voted with him looked just as shocked. Nevertheless, Zeg grabbed his torch and brought it to the host.

"Zeg, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Zeg's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Watch your backs, guys. Someone's not telling the truth." Zeg warned as he left the hut and walked out of sight.

Once Zeg was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining Ventala players. "If tonight's vote showed anything, it's that you can't assume a vote will go the way you want. In this game, anything can happen, and I'm guessing Zeg found that out the hard way." He explained. "Seventeen of you remain, and rest assured, we've only just started. Many more will fall, and remember that only one can win. You can all head back to camp."

The nine remaining Ventala players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Bringing up the rear, Kendall looked to be in shock of what happened to the vote. However, in his mind, he was glad that the vote ended the way it did, just as he planned. Now it was time to start pointing fingers…

"_I'm shocked that I got voted out the way I did. I thought for sure there would at least be a tiebreaker, and if it was a fire-making one, I'd win easily." Zeg lamented. "Oh, well. I guess you can't win them all. I managed to last for a week and a bit, so that's pretty good when you consider I'm a half-blind mole."_

**Voting History:**

**Zeg – Amy, Angela, Brock, Corey, Fran-CINE and Kendall**

**Brock – Danglars, Kenal, Mongo and Zeg**

Author's Notes: And Zeg is the third to fall. He was interesting to write for and was a good short-term character, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get a lot of mileage out of him when I cast him, so I tried to get as much out of him as I could before he got the boot.


	5. Days 10 to 11

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_Zeg just got eliminated, but that's not what bothers me the most. One, it was supposed to be five-on-five, but someone ended up switching their vote. Two, the idol Zeg played was a FAKE idol." Danglars said. "Kendall's got a lot to answer for after what happened back there."_

"Kendall, what gives? The idol you gave him was FAKE!" Danglars accused.

"It was buried! I swear I dug it up on Exile!" Kendall insisted. "That…Uh…That panda girl must have found it and made a fake idol to put in its place!"

"She found the idol on her FIRST visit to the island?" Mongo asked, arms folded. "How stupid do you think we are?"

"She must have!" Kendall said. "I swear on my brother's life that I dug it up!"

"_Uh…Yeah. I don't actually HAVE a brother, but I needed to say SOMETHING to get these people to believe me." Kendall pointed out. "I need to pin some blame on Chloe and I think they may fall for it."_

"_Frankly, I think that monkey is trying to fool us. I mean, the whole backstab doesn't bother me as much as I thought because I wasn't that fond of Zeg, but it's that fact that he's refusing to own up to what he did that's bugging me." Mongo said. "I mean, he's probably got the others fooled that he's innocent, but something's telling me otherwise."_

"Look, if we can ignore the fake idol for a second, we have more-pressing matters." Kenal said. "In case you guys forgot, one of us voted Zeg out and avoided the tiebreaker."

The others were silent, looking at each other suspiciously. Kenal continued. "One of us isn't as trustworthy as the others think. Is anyone going to own up to the backstab?" He asked. Again, he was met with silence. "I didn't think so."

"How will we know which one of us is the guilty party?" Danglars asked aloud.

"We won't. Not without a little more investigation." Kenal reminded.

"_This worries me. We have a traitor amongst us and I know I'll likely be under suspicion because I'm a Dalek." Kenal reminded. "I need to unravel this mystery more than anyone because I know I'm not safe until I do."_

Deciding to try and get answers in the morning, everyone went to bed, knowing that tomorrow would be hectic.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 10)**

"_Winning our first Immunity was a good feeling, and now we're all safe for the time being. This is good, because the more people we can get to the merge, the better." Gary said. "The absolute last thing any of us want is to be picked off one at a time just because the other tribe has more people at the merge."_

As Erica and Tomato were talking, Gary glanced down at Riddle. "You think we'd be able to get Samantha and Robert to vote with us next time?" He asked.

"That's the big question. The answer: Doubtful." Riddle shook his head. "Look at us. We're an alliance four-strong."

"So?"

"People like Samantha are bent on taking out threats or large alliances." Riddle explained. "Who do you think she's more-likely to go after first? An alliance of two or four?"

Gary scratched his head. "Probably the bigger alliance."

"Exactly."

"_The one thing I don't even need to think about is that people act very ruthless in this game; Samantha's no exception." Riddle said. "None of us trust her and we know that she'll sell us out to advance in the game, so if we can whittle her resources down to a manageable number, we'll be able to take her out whenever we want."_

Meanwhile, Erica and Tomato were sitting on one of the logs around the fire pit, talking.

"I can't believe half of the things you say you're able to do with all of that evil-fighting and stuff." Erica shook her head, although she still smiled. "Aren't you a little young for things like that?"

Tomato couldn't help but chuckle. "You're not one to talk, though." She reminded. "All of those super-young super-geniuses sound a little far-fetched to me."

"Touche." Erica shrugged. "But still, the idea of smart people being so young is still more-believable than a bunch of teenage girls running around fighting evil with magic and animal forms."

"Hey!"

"_I love Erica to death, but she can be difficult with things that don't seem to make sense to her, like the concept of someone like me fighting evil with a second form." Tomato explained. "I mean, I hope I can get her to broaden her horizons a little bit. At the least, I'd be able to help her understand more of what she thinks is illogical."_

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 10)**

"That vote last night was hairy." Brock shook his head. "I'm glad we got that sixth vote, though."

"I know. That took me by surprise." Amy nodded. "I was counting on a tiebreaker."

"We ALL were." Brock said. "And I have a feeling Zeg would have beaten me in a fire-making tiebreaker."

"Seriously?"

"You saw what he was able to do to make fire."

"_I was in danger of getting voted out last night, but I wasn't, so that came as a huge relief. I didn't come here to get voted out this early." Brock explained. "That being said, someone on the opposing faction voted with us, but they never came forward. While I'm glad that it helped us, I'm a little worried."_

"Who do you think the extra vote was from?" Amy asked Angela, whom appeared to be in thought.

"Well, let's go through this. Danglars is out of the question since he appeared to be close to Zeg." Angela said.

"And Kendall was the one who gave that fake idol he found on Exile to Zeg." Brock supplied. "We can rule him out as well."

"I'm not sure about that."

"_Something about Kendall rubs me the wrong way. I honestly picked him for my team to be someone we could cut from the team for being weak." Angela informed. "After what happened at Tribal Council, I think he may be craftier than he seems. This could tell me to watch him even closer from here on out."_

"For now, I think we'll target Kendall." Angela said. "He's the weakest here, so if we get rid of him next, we're sure to do well in challenges."

"I…Don't think that will work." Brock said.

"Oh?" Angela asked, looking a little cross. "Brock, where I come from, strength is the biggest asset you can have. If you're physically weak, you aren't lasting the night."

"…Seriously?"

"I've gone through a LOT of training my entire life." Angela said.

"_Like I've said, I think Angela's strategy is flawed. There's more to the game than being strong. For all we know, Kendall is our smartest player and we'd probably run into a trivia challenge after getting rid of him." Amy rolled her eyes. "However, I'm not going to say that to her face because I want to stay on her good side. Doesn't seem to stop Brock, though."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Samantha apparently thinks she can walk all over me because she blamed me a couple of days ago. Well, I've got a lot of fight behind this cute face." Chloe insisted. "If she and her lap-dog want a fight from me, well then, I guess I'll just have to bring it."_

"Look, I take offense to you blaming me for our last loss!" Chloe said.

"You're STILL on about that?" Samantha asked, slightly annoyed. "That was two days ago."

"You forgot about it?" Chloe asked.

"Uh…Yeah." Samantha said matter-of-factly. "Look, what's done is done. We lost that challenge, but we won the next, so everything's just smiles and rainbows."

"You think I'm going to let you get away with stepping on me like that?"

"_Chloe's easily-angered because she seems to think that she's a better player than she is. Maybe if she got over herself." Samantha said. "That being said, this makes her a good target to prod and pin blame on, because the more she gets mad, the bigger the target she'll make for herself."_

Tempo was forced to drag Chloe away by himself in an attempt to get the two apart. Samantha stood her ground and watched the two go, but Robert simply scratched his head.

"I still don't know why you two are so angry with each other." Robert said.

"She's mad at me because I blamed her and I'm pretending to be mad for the sole reason of making her even madder." Samantha said, forming a smirk.

"…I don't get it…"

"I'll tell you when you're older." Samantha dismissed as she walked past Robert.

Robert, sitting on a rock, blinked a couple of times. "Uh…What?"

"_This is really confusing. First, Sammy blames Chloe for something I don't get, and now she's acting like she doesn't care." Robert said, scratching his head. "What the heck is going on here? Am I the only one that doesn't know?"_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"So you don't know who the extra vote for Zeg was?" Amy asked Corey.

"Course not. Ah just voted fer him like Ah were told. Ah ain't one ta ask questions, ya know." Corey said. "Ah mean, if Ah were, people would think that Ah'd get annoyin' real quick. Thankfully, Ah know when ta keep mah mouth shut if Ah think I talk for too long."

Amy blinked a couple of times. "Uh…Yeah."

"_I know Angela sees Corey as strong, and she is, but she just talks WAY too much. If the two of us were alone out here, I don't know what I'd do." Amy shook her head. "It would probably involve me either mangling her or myself, but I don't know which."_

"_That Amy's fun ta talk to, but it just takes a while fer me ta get her ta talk back sometimes." Corey shrugged. "Dunno why it's so tough. Mah family can really go on long rants about nothin' when we really want ta."_

"Um…What about you, Fran-CINE?" Amy asked the red robot sitting nearby.

"Hey, I just voted for him because you guys wanted him gone." Fran-CINE insisted. "As long as it isn't me, I'm fine with it."

"No one came to you?"

"Nope."

"…You've got nothing else to say?"

"Why would I?' Fran-CINE asked. "I already made it clear that I don't know where that vote came from."

"Well, you could say who you THINK the vote was from." Amy suggested.

"…Okay, fine. Try talking to Mongo. She obviously didn't like the mole." Fran-CINE suggested.

Amy sighed and walked off. "Well, it's a start." She said.

Fran-CINE shook her head. "Finally." She said.

"Finally, what?" Corey asked.

"_Trying to talk to those two is a chore in itself. Fran-CINE is like a brick wall and Corey talks like a teenager physically injected with two months of caffeine." Amy said flatly._

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_I want to get on the good side of the other alliance. If they decide to boot Chloe for being too snarky with the others, then I'll be on my own." Tempo admitted. "I want to try and strike up some kind of side alliance with one of them, preferably one that wouldn't consider me a threat. However, since I'm stronger than both Erica and Riddle, that leaves Gary as my choice."_

"You're a strong guy, aren't you, Gary?" Tempo asked as Gary was grabbing firewood.

"Yeah. I'm just naturally stronger than most people where I come from." Gary gave a carefree shrug.

"Look, I'll just get right to the chase because I have a feeling you don't want me to waste your time." Tempo explained. "I want to start a side alliance with you."

Gary paused, then looked at Tempo. "Um…Why?"

"It's obvious that you're going to be considered a threat when we make the merge." Tempo pointed out. "I know you've got Erica and Riddle at the moment, but how long do you think it would take before the others start to vote you guys out?"

Gary thought for a moment, then shrugged again. "I never really worry about things like that." He admitted. "I just take them as they come."

"I kinda thought you would." Tempo muttered.

"_It's nice of Tempo to be looking out for a guy like me, but I think I'm capable of taking care of things myself." Gary admitted. "What will happen if my current alliance starts getting voted out? Well, I guess I'd cross that bridge when I get there, but I imagine it would be best to go to the others for help."_

"Just sleep on it for now, okay?" Tempo asked. "The offer's always there, but I would suggest that you make a decision before it's too late."

"I appreciate the concern, Tempo." Gary nodded. "You heading to bed?"

"Yeah. It's getting late." Tempo nodded. "You coming?"

"Not yet. I'll stay up a bit longer."

Tempo shrugged and went to the shelter, leaving Gary to continue his work, whistling as he did.

"_I'm really hoping Gary can come through for me. He's the least-likely of the other alliance to turn on me if things get rough." Tempo admitted._

**(Ventala Tribe)**

As the majority of the tribe was sleeping in their shelter, Fran-CINE crept away, carrying a lot of the fruit the tribe had gathered.

"Let's see…What to do…" Fran-CINE mused to herself.

"_These fleshbags are easy to torture. I just take away some little provision and they're all complaining about how they can't survive without it." Fran-CINE said. "In other words, I need to destroy even more of it to make this experience satisfying for me."_

Fran-CINE picked a mango out of her armload and hurled it against the ground, splattering it everywhere. "I don't need these. I don't see how the others need them either." She said with a smirk. "I can't wait to see how miserable these idiots get."

"I wouldn't do that. Humans need to eat to survive, you know."

Fran-CINE's eyes snapped open as she dropped all the fruit she was carrying. She spun around and saw Kenal hovering in front of her. "W-Why…Why aren't you asleep?" She demanded.

"Uh…Hello? Robot. I don't technically NEED sleep." Kenal said. "I decided to keep myself from going into standby for one night to see if anything would happen. Looks like I was right."

"_Quite frankly, I shouldn't be surprised that Fran-CINE is the one sabotaging our tribe. She's got a miserable personality and, obviously, couldn't care less what happens to our organic tribe-mates." Kenal explained. "I'm a little disappointed in myself for not confronting her sooner, but now that I have, I can stop this."_

"You of all people should see the logic in my actions! Robots are far superior to those pathetic fleshbags!" Fran-CINE pointed out.

"You have a lot to learn, Fran-CINE." Kenal said, giving what sounded like a sigh. "Okay. Here's how this is going to work. Either you stop this senseless sabotaging or I'll tell everyone that it was you to begin with."

"Is…Is that a THREAT?" Fran-CINE challenged.

"No. It's a promise." Kenal said as he turned and hovered back to the shelter. "Goodnight."

Fran-CINE looked at the scattered fruit and angrily stomped a few more flat before returning to the shelter in a huff.

However, as she left, she didn't notice a white monkey's head poke out from a tree, giving a smirk.

"_I can't believe I would get betrayed by my own kind! Why would Kenal side with the humans? By all logic, he should be right there beside me!" Fran-CINE insisted._

"_Hmm…This could prove to be interesting." Kendall said with a smirk._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 11)**

"Okay. Because we need the numbers, we need you guys to vote with us." Tempo said. "And just to be sure, I don't want to hear you degrading either Chloe or myself again, got it?"

"We'll see." Samantha said with a smirk.

"We're supposed to be on the same side, here!" Tempo said. "You don't pick fights with people you're siding with!"

"You do if you don't like them."

"You don't actually care for us, do you?"

"Of course not. The only reason Robert and I are even willing to join the two of you is because we've got an alliance of four to bring down."

Robert stepped in. "She doesn't mean that! She likes you guys!" He said happily.

"Robert, do you mind?" Samantha asked.

"_Working with Samantha is like working with the devil, and somehow, I have a feeling I'm not far off." Tempo folded his arms. "We don't like her, but we need her vote. The worst thing is that Samantha KNOWS this."_

"_Everyone says that Samantha hates them all, but she says that it's just because they're mean to her." Robert said. "I don't know why they would say that she's evil, though. She's been nothing but nice to me!"_

Chloe sighed as Samantha and Robert walked off. "When are we going to focus on getting them out?" She asked.

"As soon as we whittle Riddle's alliance down to a manageable number." Tempo replied.

"I don't know if I can wait that long."

"_The longer Samantha stays around, the more confident she is that she's in control of the game." Chloe said, unamused. "I want to wipe that stupid smirk off her face so badly, but I know that it wouldn't work, at least not like that."_

"Hey, guys! We've finally got treemail!" Tomato announced as she came into camp.

"What's it say?" Gary asked.

"It's wondering if our strongest player has faith in the rest of us." Tomato replied.

Everyone quickly turned to Gary, who looked around uncomfortably. "What are you guys looking at me like that for?" He asked.

"_It's no question that Gary's the strongest one here, so we'll just have to see how the challenge plays out." Tomato explained. "For one, I hope that Gary trusts us enough, because if he ends up losing the challenge because he doesn't trust us, it'll be real bad for him."_

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 11)**

"…And then mah lil' brother got electrocuted so bad that his hair was standin' on end fer a week!" Corey laughed as she and Kenal went to the treemail box.

"Interesting, but I have to ask." Kenal said. "Why were you two having a water-balloon fight near a transformer tower to begin with?"

Corey, for once, was silent. She just gave a shrug.

"_There are a few sour apples in the tribe, but Ah really like most of 'em. Kenal just seems so interested in mah stories!" Corey said. "Angela and Fran-CINE could stand ta cheer up a bit, though…"_

"Look, we're going to need to vote out people soon enough, right?" Kenal asked.

"Ah guess so." Corey scratched her head. "Ya can't go to the finals with nine people."

"Right. I think we need to focus our attention on the negative people." Kenal pointed out. "Without them, we'll have better morale. I mean, you have to admit that Angela is rather frightening when she gets mad."

Corey whistled. "Ya got that right. Boy, was she steamed when she found all that fruit splattered on the ground." She said.

Kenal didn't tell Corey he knew who the saboteur was as she reached into the treemail box.

"_I decided to tell my plans to Corey because I think she's a much more-positive force on the tribe and she's rather simple-minded." Kenal explained. "If we can eliminate the negative people that seem to be holding the tribe back, we may have better morale for following challenges."_

"Looks like we got some treemail, pardner." Corey explained as she drew a letter from the box.

Corey and Kenal went back to camp and announced that the treemail had arrived. Everyone gathered around as Corey read it.

"It's wonderin' if our strongest person trusts the rest of us." Corey said.

"Wonder what that means." Danglars scratched his head.

"Danglars, why are you even SAYING that?" Angela asked. "The point of the treemail is to be as vague as possible."

"Just saying."

"_If it's a strength challenge, I'm confident in myself against Gary, but the fact remains that I have to rely on the others." Angela said. "This could either help us or hurt us. It had better not be the latter…"_

"_Depending on what type of challenge it is, we could be in trouble. Angela's going to say that she's the strongest person on the tribe, but I don't know about that anymore." Brock rubbed his head. "I wonder if there's a way we can convince Angela to let Corey or Amy do this…"_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The Ferren Tribe stood on their mat in a clearing and waited for their opponents to come into view.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the Ventala Tribe." SSBFreak said as the blue tribe walked into view. People saw who was missing among them. "Zeg was voted out at Tribal Council."

Overall, the Ferren Tribe looked indifferent as the Ventala Tribe stepped onto their mat, although Tomato looked a little down at the loss of her rival. Nevertheless, everyone waited for the challenge to start.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, everyone. Here, we will be testing the strength of one and the knowledge of the others at the same time." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw two weight stations sitting nearby. "Each tribe will choose one person to represent strength, and they need to lift these weights off the ground, starting the challenge with fifty pounds each. At the same time, I'll be asking alternating questions about Survivor to everyone else. For every correct answer, an extra ten pounds will be added to your opponent's weightlifter, while every incorrect answer will add ten pounds to your own. The first person to drop their weights will lose the challenge and their tribe will be voting someone out at Tribal Council tonight."

The two tribes looked at each other, as if sizing up the potential strength on the other tribe.

"Ventala, you still have an extra member. Who's sitting out?"

Mongo shrugged. "I may as well." She said.

"Okay. Time to choose who on your team will be lifting the weights. Make sure you pick your strongest player."

The teams chose their representatives quickly. Angela was the lifter for Ventala while Gary was the lifter for Ferren. Fifty pounds of weights were added to the weight stations and the two strong players easily lifted them off the ground.

"Okay. For Immunity, here is Ventala's first question." SSBFreak said. "Which season did Ethan win?"

The Ventala Tribe looked at each other to discuss possibilities. "Wasn't he from the Thailand season?" Amy asked.

"No. I don't think that was him." Brock said.

"He was from the Boreno season!" Fran-CINE said.

"No. That was the first season and we all know Richard Hatch won that." Amy interjected.

"What about Africa?" Kenal asked. "For some reason, that sticks out for me."

"We'll try it." Brock shrugged. "We're guessing Africa."

"And you're correct. Africa was indeed the season Ethan won." SSBFreak nodded. "Ten pounds will be added to Ferren's weights." Gary didn't flinch as the weights were added and SSBFreak turned to the other team. "Name the person that has had the most trouble with the host and production crew of the show."

"That's dead easy." Tempo said. "Johnny Fairplay."

"That's correct. Ten pounds will be given to Ventala."

"How'd you know that?" Erica asked.

"I've been studying the show to prep myself." Tempo said with a smirk.

"Ventala, how many people participated in the Micronesia season?" SSBFreak asked Ventala.

"Micronesia…Wasn't that the Fans vs. Favourites season?" Danglars asked absent-mindedly.

Brock's eyes widened in realization. "Twenty!"

"That's correct. Ferren gets ten more pounds." SSBFreak said as Gary received more weights. "Ferren, how many TRIBES did Guatemala have?"

"The number of tribes?...Is this a trick question?" Tempo asked.

"Maybe it is…Survivor didn't have any seasons with three tribes, did they?" Tomato asked.

"Not that I can think of, but I know they had a few with FOUR." Tempo said.

"We'll say…Four." Tomato said.

"That's incorrect. The season AFTER Guatemala had four teams, but Guatemala had two." SSBFreak explained. "Gary gets ten more pounds, meaning that he's currently holding up eighty pounds while Angela is holding up sixty."

"I can take more." Gary assured with a smile.

"Ventala, did the Amazon season have any non-gameplay eliminations?"

"The Amazon?" Brock asked. "Gee…I don't know…"

"A good number of the seasons has non-gameplay eliminations." Fran-CINE reasoned. "Why don't we just go with that?" Without giving her tribe time to react, the robot looked at the host. "Yes."

"That's incorrect. Everyone in the Amazon was voted out normally." SSBFreak replied. Angela grunted in annoyance as ten more pounds were given to her. "Ferren, there was a season that had people going by the nicknames of "Bubba", "Sarge" and "Chad". Which season was it?"

"Ugh…I have no clue…" Samantha muttered.

"We may as well guess if we have no idea." Tomato suggested. "What's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

"Baked potatoes." Robert said. He received a tribe-full of flat stares. "What?"

"How about…Panama?" Erica guessed.

"That's incorrect. The right answer is Vanuatu. Gary is now holding up ninety pounds and Angela is holding up seventy." SSBFreak said. "Ventala, how many players were there in Palau?"

"That's easy. That was the season with the Ulong-ing, right?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah, but-" Brock said. He didn't get the chance to finish.

"Eighteen." Kendall said.

"That's incorrect. There were actually twenty people, but two people were eliminated at the start." SSBFreak said.

"Even I knew that one!" Angela growled as ten pounds were added to her weights.

"Ferren, which season had former coach Jimmy Johnson play the game?" SSBFreak asked.

"It was a newer season, wasn't it?" Riddle asked.

"I think so." Erica nodded. "But was it a season with or without that Russell loser?"

"That's the question. I'm unsure." Riddle shook his head.

"Let's just guess…Samoa?" Tempo asked.

"That's incorrect. The correct answer is Nicaragua." SSBFreak said. Gary was starting to flinch under the weight of a hundred pounds. "Ventala, on which season did the well-known player Coach make his debut?"

"Ugh…I know what the name is, but I can't remember how it's spelled…" Amy muttered.

"What's it start with, pardner?" Corey asked.

"It starts with a T, but-"

"Tocantins." Corey said, garnering surprised looks from the others.

"That's correct. Angela is holding eighty pounds while Gary is holding a hundred and ten." SSBFreak said. "Ferren, who is the only person to win the game twice?"

"Sandra!" Several members of Ferren said as one.

"That's correct."

"Man. Finally, we got an easy one." Chloe sighed.

"Ventala, which season did notorious player Rob Mariano debut?" 

"Man! Another one I can't remember how to pronounce!" Amy cursed.

"I know. I always hated the names of the seasons I couldn't pronounce right." Danglars nodded.

"Marquesas." Corey said simply, again making her tribe look at her with surprised glances.

"That's correct. Rob returned numerous times, but that was he debut season." SSBFreak nodded. "Ferren, there was a season with a man that called himself "Chicken". Which season was it?"

"I know it was an Asian season." Chloe said. "Was it Fiji?"

"It couldn't have been Thailand." Tomato shook her head. "What do you guys think?"

"I think Fiji's close. Let's go with that." Tempo nodded. "We'll say Fiji."

"That's incorrect. The right answer was China."

Gary struggled to hold up the increasing number of weights before his arms suddenly gave out from all of the added pressure. The weights hit the ground with a loud crash, leaving Angela's weights still in the air.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Ventala wins Immunity!"

Angela quickly dropped her weights and cheered with the rest of her tribe. The Ferren Tribe looked frustrated at losing another Immunity.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Ventala. You're all safe for at least a couple more days out here." SSBFreak said before looking at the losing team. "Ferren, I'll be seeing you tonight for your third out of four Tribal Councils, where you will be voting another one of your own out of the game. You should be used to hearing me saying this by now, but I'll give you the rest of the day to make up your minds on who to vote for. You can all head back to camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_We lost Immunity again. This sucks so bad because I wasn't really expecting to lose this much. Well, now we have to vote someone else out." Erica folded her arms. "The current target is Chloe, and it makes sense since she's physically the weakest here."_

"Do you think that there'll be a tie?" Erica asked.

"I know so. Samantha is too smart to leave us alone four-strong." Riddle shook his head. "We need to prepare for a tiebreaker."

"Who?" Erica asked.

"That's the thing. We don't know who they're gunning for. Gary's the only one out of the four of us I can't see them going after." Riddle said.

"That probably means that I should ready myself for a tiebreaker as well." Gary sighed.

"Of course."

"_We know that we're going into a tiebreaker, but we don't know who they'll go after. Logically, they'd be coming after Erica or myself, but that could be what they want us to think and they'll go after Riddle or even Gary." Tomato said worriedly. "I really don't know how this is all going to pan out."_

"Couldn't one of us go and spy on them to see if we can hear any plans?" Tomato suggested.

"Hey, if you wanna go see, that's fine with me, but you'll lose time in preparing for a tiebreaker." Erica supplied.

"…Never mind."

Meanwhile, the other four players of Ferren were off talking about the vote.

"So we'll vote for Tomato, then?" Samantha asked.

"That may be the best course of action." Tempo shrugged. "I don't think she'll really help us much out here."

"Just remember to vote with us." Chloe said. "They outnumber you and, for all we know, they could be gunning for you."

"I'm aware of that. Don't worry." Samantha said.

"_I like it when people come together and join forces. Now, Samantha told me that the others can't be trusted, so her making a deal with them must be big." Robert said. "I don't know how things are gonna go, but I THINK I'm safe…"_

Samantha and Robert wandered off and Tempo glanced down at Chloe. "You should probably prepare for a tiebreaker, Chloe." He explained. "Even if they DO vote with us, it's still a four-on-four."

"I know. I'll get to practicing." Chloe nodded as she turned and walked off.

"_All I can say is that it's going to be an interesting Tribal Council." Chloe pointed out._

**(Tribal Council)**

The eight members of Ferren walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Going over to the stumps provided for them, everyone sat down and waited for the council to commence.

"Welcome to Tribal Council, Ferren. In a moment, you'll be voting another of your members out of the game so that the rest of you can stay in." SSBFreak said before starting his questions. "Riddle, this is the third time you guys have been here. How does that feel?"

"It tells us that we haven't come across the right challenge that will allow us to win. We're still waiting for that challenge to come, but in the meantime, we seem to be holding things together fairly well." Riddle said.

"In other words: It sucks." Erica slouched.

"Indeed it does, but we can't give the other team the satisfaction of beating us. We know we're the better team. We just need to prove it." Riddle pointed out.

"Chloe, the last time you guys were here, Anke was voted out. What was that like?"

"You picked the wrong person to ask that, pal. I was absolutely crushed when Anke was voted out. She was my best friend out here and these jerks voted her out!" Chloe exclaimed.

"She was the weakest here." Samantha said. "She was a liability."

"YOU'RE a liability." Chloe folded her arms.

"Look, what's done is done. You can't bring her back, so you may as well just keep playing the game." Samantha waved her off.

"I don't think you'd be saying that if Robert got blindsided."

"Tomato, what was your reaction to seeing Zeg eliminated at the challenge?"

"I was a little let down because I half-considered him my biggest rival out here." Tomato shrugged. "We both dig extremely fast and he's the only one here that could ever have a hope of keeping up with me in digging."

"Kind of a weird rivalry." Robert scratched his head.

"Hey. Not all rivalries are about strength or intelligence, right?" Tomato quizzed.

"Tempo, how do you think the vote's going to go?"

"In all honestly, we don't have a clue. We don't know who they're targeting, and they don't know who we're targeting." Tempo replied.

"That could change if you told us who you were going after." Erica said. "Then we could tell you our target."

"No thank you. I don't trust you guys to be truthful."

"I could say the same for you." Erica lifted an eyebrow. 

"There's no need to carry this out, Erica." Tempo pointed out.

"You're the one that started!"

"Guys, if you don't mind, can I continue?" SSBFreak asked. Things quieted down. "Robert, what's going through your mind right now?"

"Uh…Nothing? I mean, if something went through my mind, I'd probably be dead, right?" Robert asked.

SSBFreak paused, took the time to slap himself on the forehead, and continued. "On that note, it's time to vote." He said. "Robert, you're up."

Robert got up and left the hut to go vote. The Woozle scribbled a name down, trying to get the writing as best as he could before voting and leaving the table.

Gary approached the table and wrote a name down. He took a moment to second-guess himself, but decided against it and voted anyway.

Chloe wrote a name down and turned it around, revealing Tomato's name. "Something tells me it's either you or me." She said as she voted and left the table.

Riddle silently wrote a name down and shoved it into the urn. The green alien turned and left the table as quietly as he came.

Erica approached the table and wrote a note down, looking a little mad. She didn't say anything and voted regardless, leaving the table in a hurry.

Tomato cast her ballot and showed it to the camera. "You're the weakest left. We need to vote you out before we lose more challenges." She said, having voted for Chloe.

Tempo looked a little unsure himself, but he still wrote a name down. "I hope we got the target right…" He said as he put his ballot into the urn.

Samantha was the last to vote, not wasting any time in writing a name down. Without blinking, Samantha placed the ballot into the jar and left without a word.

Once all eight players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forth their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. "It's time to-"

"Hold up."

Chloe stood up, drawing a necklace from within her shirt. "Now to prove you naysayers wrong when I say it's possible to find the idol on the first trip to Exile." She said triumphantly, ignoring the stunned look on everyone's faces as she walked up to the host and gave him the idol.

"This is indeed the Hidden Immunity Idol of Exile Island. All votes cast against Chloe are now void." SSBFreak said as Chloe returned to her seat, looking proud. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Chloe. Doesn't count." Chloe smirked.

"Chloe. Invalid." Riddle hung his head low.

"Chloe. Void." Erica and Tomato looked a little nervous.

"Chloe. Not counted. That's four invalid votes." Chloe just folded her arms.

"…Tomato." Tomato's eyes widened.

"Tomato." Tomato looked down as Erica sighed. "Next vote and fourth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Tomato. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Tomato sighed and stood up. "It's okay. I don't hold it against you guys." She said as she approached the host with her torch.

"Tomato, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Tomato's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"It's been fun." Tomato said as she left Tribal Council and vanished from sight.

Once Tomato was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "You have voted out three players so far and are again at a big disadvantage. Only time will tell if you can recover from this." He explained. "The idol was used tonight, and it will be sent to Exile Island and re-hidden again to be found and used in the future. You can all head back to camp."

The remaining seven Ferren players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Bringing up the rear, Chloe looked proud of herself. She honestly didn't think she had it in her to make a big move like that…Maybe she could do more…

"_I made it a little under two weeks, which is pretty good for someone with limited strengths. I guess I can't complain." Tomato sighed. "I was really hoping I could have done a lot better, but I guess I just got put on the wrong tribe. Maybe I would have had more luck if I was on Ventala…"_

**Voting History:**

**Tomato – Chloe, Robert, Samantha and Tempo**

**Chloe – Erica, Gary, Riddle and Tomato (VOID)**

Author's Notes: And Chloe proves that it is indeed possible to find the Hidden Immunity Idol after the first visit to Exile. You just have to be very, very lucky.

Coming into this, I wanted to form a small, unusual rivalry with a couple of people, establish it and then boot the two back-to-back. When I got two entrants that had the ability to dig real well, I knew I had it.

That being said, I hated booting Tomato this early when I got down to it because I enjoyed writing for her. However, the bigger characters ended up overshadowing her and I didn't get to portray her as much as I wanted.

To Hankdrover, I'm sorry for booting Tomato like this. Like I said, I really enjoyed her character.


	6. Days 12 to 14

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Ugh! How did that happen? I mean, we knew it would be four-on-four, but we didn't think Chloe would have had the idol!" Erica said. "Tomato paid for it and she got voted out because we didn't think Chloe would have found the idol after ONE VISIT to Exile!"_

"How did she find it the first time?" Erica asked.

"I'm puzzled at that, myself." Riddle scratched his head. "Perhaps the idol isn't as well-hidden as we first assumed."

"That can't be. The idol HAS to be hidden well or people would be finding idols every time someone goes there."

"Isn't that what Chloe did, though?"

"Look, the fact is that she found the idol and she used it." Gary reminded. "It's back on Exile, so if we want to keep the others from getting the next idol, we just need to volunteer to go to the island quicker than they do, right?"

"That may be the only thing we CAN do now." Erica folded her arms.

"_I have to admit that I wasn't counting on the idol coming into play tonight. I suppose severely underestimated Chloe's potential as a threat." Riddle mused. "Of course, that just makes it all the more important to vote her out. At the very least, we need to keep her from going to Exile again."_

Meanwhile, the other half of the tribe stood by the other side of the small lake, talking about their success.

"I actually didn't see that coming." Samantha smirked. "How'd you find the idol on your first try?"

"I don't know. I just followed the clues and dug where I thought the idol would be." Chloe shrugged. "The next thing I know, I've got it in my hands."

"The main thing is that you used it and now we've got a slight advantage." Tempo said.

"_Pulling off a big move like that felt GOOD. I could really get used to that. If I could go to Exile and find another idol, I could blindside the others again!" Chloe said. "I really wanna be in charge of a blindside, but I need to means to do so before I get too carried away."_

"So now what? Do we throw a party since we've won?" Robert asked.

"Robert, we haven't WON. We've just got an advantage." Samantha said flatly.

"Why would I want to add vantages together? And what IS a vantage?" Robert asked.

Samantha slapped herself on the forehead and Tempo quickly spoke up. "Look, let's just head to bed and be thankful we're still here." He suggested. "We'll worry about this stuff in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan." Chloe nodded.

"_I like it when people get along. I see enough battles for honey where I come from, so it's nice to see people working together." Robert said with a smile. "I honestly wish it would stay like this, but Samantha's been telling me that this is only temporary. That stinks…"_

The tribe decided to go to bed, deciding to get answers in the morning…

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 12)**

"_Seeing Kenal cornering Fran-CINE a couple of days ago planted an idea in my head, and now it's time to take action." Kendall said. "Thankfully, I know the first person I'm going to talk to about this, because she's probably the angriest person here."_

"Angela, you won't believe what I found out." Kendall said as he walked over to Angela.

"What is it? Did you find out who's been sabotaging us?" Angela asked dully.

"Actually, yes. I saw it all. It was Fran-CINE." Kendall said with a smirk.

Angela's eyes widened, then narrowed. "That yellow robot? She's been ruining everything?" She asked.

"Yeah. Something about wanting to prove that robots are superior or some crap like that." Kendall waved it off. "But here's the best part: Kenal found out as well, and he's blackmailing her."

Angela clenched her fists. "And what does he hope to gain from this?" She asked.

"I don't know. I didn't overhear that part." Kendall shrugged.

"_Now I'm mad. Not only do I find out who in my tribe is sabotaging us, but I find out that another is blackmailing her for an unknown reason." Angela said, arms folded. "Well, I guess the main thing is that I know who to target next. It doesn't matter if they're stronger than others. I don't like treachery in my tribe!"_

"Where's Fran-CINE? I'll deal with her first." Angela said before Kendall stopped her.

"I say you hold off for now." Kendall suggested. "If you expose them now, it'll give them more time to plan a comeback. Wait until it's just before Tribal Council before making your move."

Angela paused, thought things over before finally nodding. "Okay. I don't want to keep silent, but you have a point." She relented. "I appreciate you telling me."

"Anytime." Kendall said as he made himself scarce.

After Kendall was gone, Amy came over to Angela, arriving just in time to see the monkey running away. "Was that Kendall?" She asked. "What did he want?"

"He was just telling me something he felt I should know." Angela said simply as she walked by.

"…_I really don't like this…" Amy muttered. "Something tells me Kendall has Angela right where he wants her…"_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 12)**

"How do you think we stand, Gary?" Erica asked as she and Gary walked around by the top of the small waterfall.

"I don't know. I just go with it." Gary shrugged. "But honestly, I think the others might be targeting us for another round."

"Yeah. I can see what they're thinking. They want to get the three of us down to a manageable number before they turn on each other." Erica nodded.

"_I see the logic in their plan, but if we know what they're trying to do, that may give us the edge. We just need to get those four to turn on each other first." Erica said. "Now, convincing Chloe and Tempo that Samantha is evil is no problem, but it could be a challenge to get Samantha thinking that they're bigger threats than we are."_

"Where does Riddle sit with this? He'd know about what to do more than me." Gary suggested.

"We can't keep going to him for help just because he's smarter." Erica reminded. "We'll get too dependent on him and it'll get to the point where we won't be able to do anything without him."

Gary paused, then shrugged. "Okay. Whatever you say." He said.

"_I didn't want to tell Erica that Riddle had been coming to me for help a few times. If Erica has this mindset that we can't rely on smarter people, then maybe I shouldn't say anything." Gary noted._

"So how do you think we'd be able to get the others to turn on each other?" Erica asked.

"I can't really think of anything that can't be easily fixed." Gary replied. "The worst thing I can think of is spreading some rumours around."

"Yeah. Maybe you AREN'T the best person to ask about this." Erica noted.

Suddenly, as they were walking along the edge of the small lake, Erica and Gary saw Robert splashing around in the water, humming a song to himself.

"Do you think he heard what we were talking about?" Gary asked.

Robert suddenly saw the two at the shore, grinned happily and waved. "Hi, guys! Hey, come on in! The water's great!" He said.

Erica paused, then shook her head. "No chance."

With that, Erica and Gary walked off, leaving Robert alone. He shrugged, held his nose, took a deep breath and went under the water.

"_I wonder what all that talk was about, getting people to fight each other." Robert scratched his head. "I don't understand why they would want people to fight…"_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_Now that turncoat Kenal found me out, he's basically saying that I need to behave myself or he'll rat me out." Fran-CINE folded her arms. "I still don't get why he's siding with the fleshies! My entire plan's been ruined and it's because of someone who, by all figures, should be on my side to begin with!"_

"What we need is the idol." Danglars lamented. "Angela's alliance has Corey, and there's the account of that mystery voter that we still haven't figured out yet."

"Look, if someone finds the idol, wouldn't it make more sense to get rid of the strongest opponent?" Fran-CINE asked, hoping it would work.

"You kidding? We're nowhere near the merge yet!" Mongo, whom was partially in the water and leaning out on a rock, said. "Getting rid of Angela or Amy this early would be seriously retarded!"

"Yeah. Brock's probably the best bet at the moment." Danglars agreed.

Fran-CINE muttered something under her breath.

"_There are times where I feel that some people here just don't think with their heads. I mean, who in the right mind targets their strongest first?" Mongo asked. "None of us like Fran-CINE that much, but sometimes it feels like she's trying to come up with strategies that could hurt us in the long run. There's no way she's that stupid, though…"_

Fran-CINE suddenly saw Kenal hovering over. She narrowed her eyes, stood up and stalked off.

"What's with her?" Danglars asked as Kenal hovered over. "She hasn't wanted to be around you at all for the last couple of days."

"Did you hit on her?" Mongo asked with a smirk.

"BELIEVE me. She's NOT my type." Kenal said. "So what have you guys been talking about?"

"The idol." Danglars said. "We figure that we need it in order to do any lasting damage to the other alliance."

"That's likely the only thing we can do." Kenal admitted. "Idol'ing Brock would give us a bit of an edge."

"Except that it would make Angela furious with us." Mongo supplied.

"We'll have to deal with it eventually."

"_I hate having to do this much thinking to survive. I was really hoping I could just sit back and enjoy myself out here, but that hasn't really happened yet." Danglars sighed. "Believe me! The last thing I want to do is portray myself as a bland strategy-bot!"_

"_Since I confronted her, Fran-CINE hasn't sabotaged us. That shows that she still knows that I'll expose her unless she wises up." Kenal said. "While I'm glad that it's peaceful around camp now, I'm curious as to how long it will last…"_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"You know what? Maybe I should go to Exile Island next time we can and I'll find the idol again." Chloe said. "Then I can use it against someone that doesn't see it coming…Like Riddle!"

"Chloe, you're getting too carried away." Tempo said with a light chuckle. "I'm as glad as you are that we managed to pull that move off, but don't get ahead of yourself."

"But it felt so good!" Chloe insisted.

"No one will keep you if you keep making big moves." Tempo said. "That's probably the worst thing you can do."

"_Chloe's intent on finding the idol again and, quite frankly, it's starting to scare me. I need to keep her calm, and the best way to do that is tell her that she'll be a threat then." Tempo shrugged. "I mean, there's literally nothing you can do to prevent being a threat in this game, but some ways are more-glaring than others."_

"Just stay off the idols for now." Tempo suggested. "Long enough for everyone else to forget about it."

"Oh, that's good! Then when I use the idol next time, they won't see it coming at all!"

"_Do I consider myself a mastermind? No. I only did one big move. However, that doesn't mean that I don't wanna do it again." Chloe said. "Doing big moves is like an addiction. Once you start, you just can't stop!"_

Riddle saw the two by the lake (Chloe was the only one swimming) and made his way over. "I don't suppose I could have a minute of your time, could I?" He asked.

Tempo shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" He asked.

"I'd like to pitch an idea. Samantha's obviously evil, correct?" Riddle asked, receiving a nod. "Well, she's probably counting on us to pick each other off. I mean, I've been thinking about this for a while, and she only has Robert's help. She either needs the numbers or needs to pick the bigger numbers off."

Tempo paused. "Yeah. It makes sense, I guess."

"By the time we realize that she's been playing us, it may be too late." Riddle informed. "Just keep it in the backs of your minds for the moment, okay?"

"_I've got a lot running on this. Hopefully, Tempo and Chloe will see the logic and vote with us. The biggest question is if they will." Riddle said. "Survivor is like a puzzle, and half the challenge is taking the time to see where the pieces fall into place. The only downside is that you still don't know if they're the right pieces…"_

"_I've researched Survivor a LOT before coming here. I know that Riddle's trying to plant ideas in my head." Tempo said. "That being said, he was very good at it. I am seriously still thinking about what he said, even though I know the course of action Chloe and I were taking is the best way to do it."_

Night came in. Knowing that a challenge was tomorrow, the two tribes went to bed.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 13)**

"_Ugh! This sucks. I was looking forward to spending a month antagonizing these inferiors! Now I have to lay low!" Fran-CINE folded her arms. "If I can convince people that getting rid of Kenal would be good, then I'll be in the clear again."_

"You want to vote out Kenal?" Kendall asked. "And…Why would we do that when we need the numbers?"

"He's near-useless in challenges. He's only got one arm and that in itself seems like it's a chore to get anything done!" Fran-CINE said.

"Normally, I would agree, but we need his vote." Kendall said flatly. "Now get your head in gear before it comes back to bite you."

"_Where does that shrimp get off thinking he can talk like that to me?" Fran-CINE demanded._

"_Fran-CINE comes up to ME, the person who already sold her out, to tell me to vote out Kenal. Sure, she doesn't know what I did, but it's still pretty funny." Kendall chuckled. "Basically, getting people going against her and Kenal is two free rounds for me, so I don't really care what happens either way."_

"We got some tree-mail, pardners!"

Everyone ended up gathering around Corey, who had returned with treemail. By the time everyone was around her, Corey had already started reading it.

"We gotta prepare fer anything." Corey said.

"We know. What does the treemail say?" Brock asked.

"Uh…That's actually what it says."

"Oh."

"_Man. I've always hated treemail like that. There's obviously some twist coming up, but it's way too early for a merge." Brock folded his arms. "We obviously don't know what's going to happen, but SOMETHING'S going to…"_

"_Ah always look forward to seein' what's gonna happen at the challenge. Keeps ya on yer toes, ya know?" Corey winked._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 13)**

"Are we going to have another challenge today?" Robert asked excitedly as he followed Samantha to the treemail box. "I wonder who the other team voted out?"

"Robert, WE voted someone out last." Samantha said flatly without bothering to look at Robert.

Robert was silent for a few seconds. "Oh, yeah!" He said in realization. "Boy, I can't wait to see how everyone else reacts!"

"_Putting up with Robert is tough, but he's literally the only one I can trust out here because he'll blindly follow me to the end of the Earth if he could." Samantha pointed out. "He's stupid, but he's loyal. That makes him an asset to me."_

"_I like doing these challenges. They may be hard, but they're fun! Sometimes, I lie awake wondering what kind of challenge we'll be going against next!" Robert said happily. "I'm sure everyone else is like that as well!"_

"Looks like we got some mail." Samantha said as she pulled a letter from the box. "Time for a challenge."

"Oh, boy!" Robert said. "I'll go tell the others!"

Robert bounded back to camp, announcing that they had treemail as Samantha walked back normally. Everyone gathered around as Samantha read it.

"Prepare for anything?" Samantha asked as she read. "How is that supposed to help?"

"The answer is obvious, Samantha: There's going to be some big twist." Riddle pointed out. "We obviously won't know until we arrive."

"Well, not all of us are puzzle-solvers like you." Samantha muttered.

"Um…I also figured that was what it meant." Tempo held up his hand.

"No one asked for your opinion."

"_Seriously, what crawled up HER skirt in the middle of the night?" Tempo asked before pausing and thinking. "Uh…Maybe that came out wrong…"_

"_I don't like it when people act like their smarter than me. I know I've got each of them beat. They just don't know it." Samantha folded her arms. "But seriously, the last thing I want is to give these people hope."_

**(Reward Challenge?)**

The Ventala Tribe stood on their mat as they waited for their opponents to come onto the scene again.

"Before we start, let's bring out the Ferren Tribe." SSBFreak said as the team of seven emerged from the jungle and walked onto the clearing. The Ventala Tribe saw who was gone. "Tomato was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

No one on Ventala seemed that surprised with this news, although there were a couple of disappointed faces as the Ferren Tribe stepped onto their mat.

"Welcome, everyone…You guys probably think that there's going to be a challenge today, do you?" SSBFreak asked with a smirk.

Erica suddenly saw the large amount of rocks sitting nearby, all of them sitting in several perfect rows. "You mean that-"

"Yep. We've got a Tribal Swap!" SSBFreak announced. "You guys can choose whatever rock you want, one rock per person. Underneath each rock is a coloured patch of dirt, representing the two tribes. If you end up with a blue patch, you go to Ventala, and if you get a yellow patch, you go to Ferren. There are also an even number of rocks, so the teams will be equalized after this."

Everyone looked at each other, knowing that everything was riding on this. Alliances could be split up and games could be turned around simply based on a game of chance.

"You guys can choose a rock whenever you're ready."

The sixteen remaining players wandered around the field of sixteen rocks before making their choices. Fran-CINE, not really caring, was the last to pick.

"Okay. You've all made your choices. It's now time to see where you end up." SSBFreak said. "I'll go in groups of four: Let's start with Danglars, Riddle, Angela and Chloe."

The four in question picked up their rocks and looked at the patches under them. Danglars and Angela had blue patches while Riddle and Chloe had yellow: The same colours of their original tribes.

"You four don't move. Danglars and Angela are still on Ventala while Riddle and Chloe are still on Ferren."

"That's a relief." Danglars sighed in relief as he walked back to the blue mat.

"Okay: Fran-CINE, Robert, Gary and Erica."

The four in question looked at the patches under their rocks. Erica's eyes widened when she saw that her patch was a different colour from her tribe's colour.

"Fran-CINE is still on Ventala, while Robert and Gary are still on Ferren. Erica is now on Ventala."

"I don't believe this…" Erica sighed as she walked over to her new tribe.

"Next: Brock, Amy, Samantha and Tempo."

After inspecting the patches on the ground, Amy and Samantha smiled when they saw the same colours as their tribes. Brock and Tempo weren't as lucky.

Amy is still on Ventala while Samantha is still on Ferren. However, Brock goes to Ferren and Tempo goes to Ventala."

"Man. My entire alliance…" Brock muttered.

"The last four: Kenal, Corey, Mongo and Kendall. Here's how we stand: Two of you are going to Ferren, no question about that."

After a moment, the final four lifted their rocks. Kenal and Kendall had the patches of yellow ground.

"Corey and Mongo stay on Ventala while Kenal and Kendall get moved to Ferren." The four walked over to their new teams, completing the swapped tribes.

"And with that, the swap is over. The new Ventala Tribe consists of Danglars, Angela, Fran-CINE, Erica, Amy, Tempo, Corey and Mongo. The new Ferren Tribe consists of Riddle, Chloe, Robert, Gary, Samantha, Brock, Kenal and Kendall." SSBFreak announced. "It's obviously up to you to decide on if these changes are good or not. I'll see you all tomorrow for a challenge regardless, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_This isn't good. Of all the things to happen, why now? I get separated from Chloe, and now I'm on a vast minority on Ventala." Tempo sighed. "I need to work fast and get in good with the people here or else I'm dead in the water."_

"Pretty nice camp you guys have." Tempo noted. "You guys got a bigger lake than we did."

"Yeah, but we got a waterfall." Erica added.

"That sounds awesome." Danglars whined.

Tempo looked at Angela. "Look…Uh…I hope we're not going to be targeted right away because we're outsiders." He noted.

"Do your part and give us reasons, and we'll keep you around." Angela assured, forming a light smirk.

"_In all honesty, Tempo doesn't have much to worry about. I considered him one of the stronger members of Ferren, anyway." Angela said. "Erica, on the other hand, is weak and will likely need to be voted out if we lose too many challenges. That being said, neither of them are my first targets."_

Meanwhile, Mongo was watching the other group talking and folded her arms. Danglars wandered over to her. "What's on your mind?" He asked.

"Look at them. They're sucking up to the power alliance." Mongo muttered. "There's no way Angela will vote them out if they get too close."

Danglars sighed. "We aren't in the best position, are we?" He asked.

"Of course not! Kenal AND Kendall are on the other tribe now! Our numbers just went down by two!" Mongo said. "Any chance we had at getting the majority is now shot!"

"_This sucks so bad. Two of our numbers got pulled to the other tribe and the newcomers are trying to get in good with the big alliance." Mongo folded her arms. "So now it's basically Danglars and I against the rest of the tribe unless we can sway some of the others."_

"Corey we can probably get on our side." Danglars pointed out. "She liked talking to Brock and Kenal and now both of them are on the other tribe."

"That's actually a not-stupid idea." Mongo said with a smirk. "I'm actually impressed."

"Thanks…Uh…I think."

"_We need to take this one step at a time. Sure, it's just two of us for now, but we may be able to still get the upper hand." Danglars said. "I mean, Angela may be willing to vote out the weaker Erica and none of us really like Fran-CINE…"_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"You guys got a waterfall?" Brock asked. "That is SO unfair!"

"It's awesome! We had so much fun with it when we started!" Chloe said.

"Hey! Let's go swimming!"

"Yeah!"

"_I have to admit that I was upset when Tempo and I got separated. I mean, he was my big support out here!" Chloe said. "But when Brock saw the waterfall, the only thing he wanted to do was jump off it. If I hang out with him, maybe we'll be able to join forces, since it looks like he'll be needing it as well."_

After watching Brock and Chloe race to the top of the waterfall, Riddle glanced at the other two Ventala members. "Well, this is our camp. Not much to look at, though." He said.

"Better than we got." Kendall said, arms folded. "That, and someone on our tribe was sabotaging our goods and supplies at every turn."

"Seriously?" Gary asked. "Who would sabotage their own team?"

"You got me." Kendall glanced at Kenal. "…Unless the saboteur came with us here."

"Get off it, Kendall. You know it isn't me." Kenal said.

"_Kendall was quick to blame me, which doesn't even make sense considering that we're supposed to be on the same side." Kenal said. "I see now that I can't rely on him just because we're outsiders. I need to get through the game on my own."_

"_Hearing the story about the sabotaging on Ventala just confused me. I mean, what do people hope to gain by trying to make their own teammates miserable?" Gary shrugged. "That won't do anything for team morale and it would just make people hate you even more."_

"Say. What happened to the other two?" Kendall asked.

"Samantha and Robert? They're around somewhere." Gary said.

"I would recommend not associating with them. Take a look at Samantha and tell me what you think about her." Riddle reminded.

"A being of pure evil." Kendall folded his arms.

"Exactly."

"_This could be interesting." Kendall smirked._

Night eventually rolled in for the two new teams. Knowing that the Immunity Challenge tomorrow would test them all, they decided to get some rest.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 14)**

Fran-CINE had just finished destroying the fire pit again. This time, she made sure that most of the rocks that made up the pit were split in half or destroyed altogether. She gave a satisfied smirk as she walked away from her work. "Now, then. Where were we?" She asked herself.

"_The beauty of being separated from Kenal is that now that he's gone, I've got free reign of the camp again." Fran-CINE said. "He was the one keeping me in check, but I can do whatever I want now that he's on the other tribe."_

"Hey! The fire pit's destroyed AGAIN!" Amy cried as she walked onto the scene.

"Wait. Again?" Erica asked.

"Someone here's been sabotaging our tribe." Amy sighed. "It stopped a couple of days ago, but now it's apparently started up again."

"Yeesh. How much damage was done?"

"Our fire pit's been messed with several times, but this is the first time I've seen it with destroyed rocks. A lot of our wood's been wrecked, our fruits have been ruined and they threw the flint we were given at the start into the water."

"_Hearing what these guys have been going through suddenly makes me glad I was on the other tribe." Erica noted. "I may not like losing as much as we did, but I'll take that over being on the same team as a saboteur any day."_

"We've got some treemail, everyone." Danglars announced as he came into camp.

"What's it say about the challenge?" Corey asked.

"It's wondering how good we are at number puzzles."

"Number puzzles?" Erica asked. "I have a feeling this is going to be Riddle's type of challenge."

"Ah never WAS good at number puzzles." Corey scratched her head.

"And yet you seem to know the names of the Survivor seasons no one could pronounce?" Mongo asked. All she got in response was a shrug.

"_This could be trouble. From what I could tell, the other team has the smarter players. We'll just have to hope that Tempo and Erica can show us what they can do." Danglars said. "I mean, I guess it's not their choice, since they could be up for elimination if we lose."_

"_Ah think we could do a number puzzle. Could be fun." Corey shrugged. "Ah just dunno how much use Ah'd be in one a' those."_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 14)**

"So, then. Why don't you tell me about what's been going on?" Kendall asked Samantha.

"And…Why would I tell you?" Samantha asked.

"Look, it's obvious that you're evil. Truth be told, so am I. There's no use hiding it from me." Kendall said. "I don't particularly like anyone here, and I'm guessing that you're the same."

Samantha appeared to read Kendall for a moment before relenting. "No. I don't like anyone here." She said.

"_I knew that, if I was to get some truthful information out of anyone, it would be the obvious villain. I just needed to make Samantha see me as similar to her in order to get the info I needed." Kendall said. "Now that I'm up to date, I can start planning my next move."_

"At the moment, the non-separated alliances are Riddle & Gary and Robert & myself. Chloe got separated from Tempo and Erica is with the others." Samantha said.

"An alliance of three. Interesting." Kendall said. "Where do you sit in this?"

"Robert and I are the swing votes." Samantha said. "The alliances view each other as bigger threats. Now that I've told you what I know, tell me what you know."

"I'm not close to either of the two that came with me, but Brock's in a power alliance." Kendall informed. "It may be wise to go after him first."

"_Kendall was smart to give me some info or else I probably would have targeted him for not agreeing with me." Samantha said. "That being said, he seems smart. Almost TOO smart. Maybe I should go after him anyway in a few votes."_

"Looks like we've got treemail, guys." Brock announced as he came into camp with a letter.

"Does it give any hints about the challenge?" Chloe asked.

"Is anyone good at number puzzles?" Brock read.

The majority of the tribe glanced at Riddle, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess that was a stupid question." Brock shrugged.

"_Numbers make my head hurt." Robert said._

"_Puzzles are my forte, but the big question is if I do better with number puzzles. That, I'm afraid, will have to come later." Riddle admitted. "But surely the tribe doesn't count on me to win the challenge by myself. It's obvious that it's going to need a team effort."_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The two teams emerged onto a clearing and spotted their mats on the ground. The sixteen remaining players walked over to their mats and stepped on.

"Welcome to the next Immunity Challenge, everyone. Here, we will see how good you are at solving a popular and ancient puzzle: Sudoku." SSBFreak said. Everyone suddenly became aware of the two giant Sudoku boards in front of them. "For those that don't know, the goal of Sudoku is to fill nine boxes with the numbers 1 through 9, but never have repeating numbers in any columns or rows. You all need to work together here to solve these puzzles, because the first team to correctly solve their Sudoku puzzle will win Immunity and be safe from elimination a tonight's Tribal Council. To make things easier for you, some of the squares in the boxes have already been filled in."

The teams glanced at each other. Even for the smart players, this would prove to be rough.

"Since we've just had a Tribal Swap, the teams are even and no one will be sitting out." SSBFreak said. "If you'll all approach the boards, we can start."

The two teams walked over to their boards, seeing that different numbers had been filled in on each board. The two puzzles were going to be different.

"Okay, for Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

The two teams quickly went to work on the puzzles, but ran into trouble almost instantly.

"Even after hearing the rules, I still don't get it!" Brock said.

"That's a relief. I thought I was the only one." Robert added.

"The board is split up into nine squares. We need to fill each square with numbers, but make sure none repeat." Riddle said. "For example, look at the top-left square. In the top row are the numbers 7 and 4, while the far-left column has the numbers 3 and 2. That means that the first number can't be any of those four numbers."

"I still don't get it." Brock moaned.

"You will in time. Follow my lead."

"Just put in random numbers for now." Angela said. "If we come across any conflicting ones, we'll make the change."

"But by then we'll probably just dig ourselves into a hole!" Amy insisted.

"But it's better than sitting here and carefully analyzing the board all day. We obviously don't have that long." Angela countered.

"She has a point." Danglars shrugged.

The two teams raced against each other, although with different strategies. Ventala was putting in numbers quickly, although trying to make sure that they didn't have any repeating numbers. Ferren, with Riddle leading the way, was taking longer to put numbers into the empty boxes, but they seemed to be analyzing what to do next.

"You all seem to be taking different approaches to solving the puzzle." SSBFreak pointed out. "Fran-CINE, what's your plan at the moment?"

"We don't HAVE one." Fran-CINE said. "We're just following the directions of our apparent leader."

"You don't sound concerned."

"Hey, if we lose, it's not gonna be my fault."

Angela cast a dark glare at Fran-CINE, but remained quiet as she continued to work on the puzzle.

SSBFreak turned to the Ferren Tribe. "Chloe, you guys seem to be following Riddle here. Any particular reason?"

"He's the puzzle-expert. If any of us is gonna have a chance at completing this thing, it's him." Chloe explained. "Not a whole lot of us even understand how this puzzle's supposed to work yet, so we're just kinda hoping we'll pick up on it."

"How long do you think it will take to get used to the puzzle?"

"Hopefully not long. We need to finish this first." Chloe shook her head.

"We're well on our way, Chloe." Riddle assured, although not taking his eyes off the puzzle. He quickly pointed out the next square. "Look at this. Judging by what we have down, we can assume that a 6 goes here."

"He's right. Looks like it might be a 6." Gary nodded as he filled the box in.

Meanwhile, Mongo suddenly spotted something on Ventala's board. "Guys! There are two 3's in the second-to-top-row!" She pointed out.

"Oh, man! She's right!" Tempo said. "Then…Where did we go wrong?"

"We're missing a 5. We need to change one of the 3's." Danglars said. "Where does it go?"

"Try the first one for now. We just need to get the second 3 out of the row." Mongo replied.

The two teams continued to work on their puzzles, starting to make progress in their own ways. The two boards still looked vastly different, but no one really noticed.

"You've been working at these puzzles for a good while now and I can see that things are starting to come together." SSBFreak said. "Erica, what's going through your mind?"

"Right now, we're just focusing on what numbers go where, so there's actually a lot on our minds." Erica responded. "We're not sure what kind of leadway we're getting, but we won't know until we see a complete board."

"Which we probably won't unless we stop talking to the host." Angela said flatly.

"Right." Erica nodded.

SSBFreak turned to the other team. "Samantha, how goes the game?"

"Not right now. We're actually starting to get the hang of this." Samantha said. "We're actually getting into a groove."

SSBFreak folded his arms and pouted. "I hate being ignored." He said. "Uh…Robert, what do you think about the game?"

"I hate numbers. They make my head hurt." Robert said as he stepped back, holding his head. "I dunno if I'm even helping right now."

"You just stand back, Robert. We figured that you wouldn't be the best at this." Riddle explained.

"But I wanna help."

"Believe me. You're helping us by staying out of this."

Meanwhile, the Ventala Tribe hadn't been making much progress. They had filled out their board with random numbers, but now they had to figure out where everything went.

"That square has two 5's in it." Tempo pointed out.

"Okay. So if we put a 4 in this square, then we should have a complete box and two non-conflicting rows." Angela said as she make a quick change.

"But that doesn't fix this problem on the other side of the board. Look at the columns!" Amy said. "There are THREE 7's in it!"

"How'd we get three 7's?" Corey scratched her head.

"Because we filled in the entire board first, genius." Fran-CINE folded her arms.

The Ferren Tribe was slowly making progress and the other members of the tribe were starting to point out patterns.

"I think a 1 would go here." Kenal said.

"You sure? It looks more like a 5 would go there." Chloe said. "Look. There's already a 1 in the column."

"Oh, yes. You're right."

"Good to see that you're getting the hang of this." Riddle said as he continued to write numbers down. "It's not that bad when you get used to it."

"It's not something I'd do all the time, but at least I know how to do it, now." Brock shrugged.

"We need to keep working on this, people! We're wasting time!" Kendall urged.

The two teams continued to work on the puzzles, still with varying success. While Ferren was still going strong with their strategy, Ventala's seemed to be backfiring on them. Needless to say, not a lot of people on Ventala were very happy.

"That column's all wrong! It's conflicting with that row and the column beside it!" Fran-CINE pointed out.

"NOW you choose to help?" Angela said.

"Hey, I'm just going along with this stupid plan of yours. If we lose, it's your fault, not mine."

"You think I'm going to let a walking trashcan pin blame on me?" Angela asked.

"Trashcan? I'm far more-advanced than you stupid humans!"

"Girls, this is getting us nowhere!" Tempo said.

"Angela, she's not worth it!" Amy added.

Meanwhile, Robert looked over at Ventala and his ears drooped. "Yeesh. They don't sound very friendly over there." He noted.

"Try to ignore it, Robert." Gary said. "Nothing good ever comes from arguing over a stupid reason."

"I know. I never really got reasoning like that." Robert scratched his head.

"We're almost done! Was that the last of the numbers?" Brock asked.

"All of the boxes are filled in. Now we just need to see if we made any mistakes." Riddle said.

The team scanned over their board, looking at the nine, columns, nine rows and nine boxes to see if there were any repeating numbers.

"I don't see any numbers repeating." Kenal said. "I think we did it."

"We're done over here!" Brock called out.

"They're DONE?" Danglars asked.

SSBFreak inspected the Ferren's field for a good few minutes before nodding. "It's complete all right! The challenge is over!" He announced. "Ferren wins Immunity!"

The Ferren Tribe cheered at their success, but the Ventala Tribe was looking more and more frustrated by this point.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning the first post-swap Immunity, Ferren. You're all safe for at least a few more days." SSBFreak said as he turned to the losing tribe. "Ventala, I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council tonight, where you will vote one of your own out of the game. You need to make the decision of who your tribe could do without, because it may end up helping you in the long run. I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decisions, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_I know I've been saying this a lot, but that sucked big time. Tempo and I are going into Tribal Council in a severe minority, and if the others realize that, they'll pick the two of us off easily." Erica said. "However, we noticed that there was a distraction going on at camp, and it only amplified after the challenge."_

"Well, THAT plan was genius." Fran-CINE folded her arms. "Seriously, what made you think up that?"

"It was the first idea that came to my mind, and no one else had any objections." Angela retorted. "Don't blame this on me because you were too lazy to provide input, robot!"

"Who else do we blame? It was your stupid plans that cost us the win in the first place!" Fran-CINE snapped. "Look, your plans suck! That much is obvious! We just need to get rid of you!"

With that and without giving Angela a chance to retort, Fran-CINE turned and stalked off.

"_This could be good. Angela's plans cost us the win, and if I can get the other idiots to see that, then we'll vote out our strongest player." Fran-CINE said with a smirk. "I just need to pitch my case at Tribal Council and they should buy it."_

After Fran-CINE walked off, Angela looked at the people sitting with her. "We're voting out Fran-CINE." She said.

"Um…Wouldn't it be better to vote out one of the Ferren guys since they're in the minority?" Danglars supplied.

"Yeah. I wouldn't throw away an advantage just because of some stupid arguments." Mongo shrugged.

"This isn't about the arguments. Fran-CINE's the tribe saboteur." Angela said.

"WHAT?" Danglars and Mongo said as one. Amy, sitting with them as well, remained silent but still looked shocked.

"That shiny, metal freak! I'll rip her voicebox out!" Mongo shouted.

"_The reason I've been keeping this a secret is so that Fran-CINE doesn't see the vote coming. The last thing I want is to give the traitor leadway." Angela folded her arms. "Kendall told me that Kenal was blackmailing her, but now that he's gone, there's nothing keeping her from resuming her traitorous acts."_

"We need to keep this quiet. Tell the others about it and tell them to remain quiet as well." Angela said.

"You don't have to sound so bossy when-" Mongo said before Danglars grabbed her and covered her mouth to prevent her from saying something she would regret.

"You bet, Angela! Hey, thanks for giving us a chance!" Danglars said cheerily as he dragged Mongo away, still holding onto her mouth. Angela scratched her head.

Amy looked at Angela. "Is Fran-CINE really the one sabotaging us?" She asked. "Who told you?"

"Kendall. He had apparently witnessed her destroying our supplies one night." Angela replied. "That doesn't change anything, does it?"

"No. I'm just more surprised than anything." Amy shrugged.

"_Although I question Kendall's word, it makes sense. Fran-CINE has been nothing but miserable to all of us, she does little in challenges and she's made it clear than she hates organic life." Amy pointed out. "The more I think about it, the more upset at myself I am for not seeing it sooner…"_

**(Tribal Council)**

The eight members of Ventala, old and new, walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Everyone sat down on the stumps provided and waited for the council to commence.

"Welcome to Tribal Council, Ventala. In a moment, you'll be voting one of your own out of the game so the rest may continue." SSBFreak said as he started to ask questions. "Erica, you and Tempo were pulled here after the swap. How does that feel?"

"Not good. We had to abandon previous alliances in coming here, so we just need to hope that they can survive without us for now." Erica said.

"As a quick note, this is also the fourth Tribal Council out of five you and Tempo have been to. How does that feel?"

"I know we're better than this. We've just had a horrible streak of luck since we started."

"I blame our tribe dynamics." Tempo interjected. "There's a lot of friction on our tribe."

"Yeah. That's true." Erica shrugged.

"Not that ours are much better." Danglars rubbed his head.

"Corey, what happened at the challenge today?"

"Ah dunno, pardner. Things just fell apart quickly and we never recovered from it." Corey replied. "Ah was surprised we were able ta get anywhere with it at all what with the drama goin' on."

"Drama?"

"Eh, Fran-CINE started questionin' Angela or somethin'." Corey handwaved it. "Ah dunno the details. Ah never really pay attention ta Fran-CINE."

"I'm sitting right here, you worthless airhead!" Fran-CINE snapped from the seat right beside Corey. Corey didn't seem to notice.

Danglars blinked. "Man. You gotta teach us how to do that, Corey." He said.

"Do what?" Corey asked.

"Fran-CINE, what's your story?"

"Angela had a stupid strategy and we all followed it like peons. If you ask me, I think we need to get rid of her." Fran-CINE folded her arms.

"Even though she's one of our strongest players?" Tempo asked, eyes narrowed.

"She made a retarded mistake. She needs to pay for it."

"Angela, how do you react to this?"

"It doesn't faze me. Fran-CINE thinks she can get me, one of the strongest players in the game. voted out over something so stupid." Angela replied. "She's just trying to tear the tribe apart from the inside out, since that's what she's been doing since we started."

"What do you mean?" The host asked.

"Someone's been sabotaging our tribe the entire competition. That person is Fran-CINE." Angela said with a smirk.

Fran-CINE's eyes snapped open. "W-What? How DARE you make these wild accusations that you have no proof!" She said. "You humans are all alike!"

"Who else? You're a miserable person, you don't chip in and you've just now admitted that you hate humans." Angela said.

"Because it's true! Robots are superior and you'll all get wiped out before you know it!"

Angela smirked. "And why is Kenal blackmailing you?" She asked.

"He's not blackmailing me! He just told me to stop torturing you pathetic lot or else he'd rat me out!" Fran-CINE blurted, only suddenly realizing her mistake.

"Checkmate, traitor." Angela said triumphantly.

"Uh…Wow." Danglars said flatly.

"Okay…I think that's enough questions. It's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Mongo, you're up."

The woman in question tipped her bowler hat, stood up and left to go vote. She scribbled a name down and voted. "At least it isn't me." She shrugged.

Erica walked up to the table and wrote a name down. "I should be thankful that Tempo and I aren't the targets tonight." She reasoned.

Tempo approached the table and wrote a name down. "I perfectly fine with this." He said as he turned and left.

Fran-CINE growled and wrote a name down, showing it to the camera. "I want to destroy this tribe, and if I go, you're going with me." She warned, having voted for Angela.

Amy didn't look pleased, but she walked up to the table and voted regardless. After voted, Amy turned and left as silently as she came.

Corey whistled casually as she wrote a name down. Without blinking or a second thought, the strong cowgirl put the ballot into the urn and walked away.

Angela wrote a name down and turned it around, showing Fran-CINE's name. "Once you go, the tribe morale will improve." She said as she jammed the vote into the urn.

Danglars kept his hands in his pockets until he needed to vote. "This should end in a landslide." He said as he casually strode back.

Once all eight players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." SSBFreak announced. If anyone had the idol, they didn't speak up. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Fran-CINE." Fran-CINE folded her arms.

"Fran-CINE." No one blinked.

"…Angela." Angela looked unfazed.

"Fran-CINE. She leads 3-1." Fran-CINE muttered some crude remarks under her breath.

"Fran-CINE." Fran-CINE glanced around at her tribe hatefully. "Next vote and fifth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Fran-CINE. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Fran-CINE got up and snarled at everyone. "You organic freaks think you've got the last laugh? I'll make each and every one of you pay for this!" She roared.

"You will do no such thing. Your torch." SSBFreak repeated.

"Shut up! You have no authority over me!" Fran-CINE snapped.

"I have FULL authority." SSBFreak said as he motioned for someone off to the side.

"I swore I'd take you down with me!" Fran-CINE yelled at Angela. "I want this tribe to suffer!"

Just as Fran-CINE was about to leap at Angela (who remained surprisingly unfazed), two large, burly men stepped in and grabbed the yellow robot. The security guards forcibly dragged Fran-CINE out of Tribal Council, kicking and screaming death threats at everyone.

As Fran-CINE's screams were still heard in the distance, SSBFreak extinguished her torch and turned to the others. "So ends our first unanimous vote of the season. I, for one, am glad that things ended before they got out of hand. Like I said before, we will keep a closer eye on who applies for this show in future seasons." He admitted. "There are fifteen of you left, so that should tell you that we've only just begun. Now that the Tribal Swap is done, now is the time to start focusing on the merge, because it will be coming up pretty soon. You can all head back to camp."

The remaining seven Ventala players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. While most were still shook up at the turn of events that had almost happened, Angela looked relatively calm. The way Fran-CINE was talking, it sounded like Kenal hadn't blackmailed her after all. Perhaps she was a little too quick to judge the other robot…

"_Those worthless piles of flesh will be sorry for getting rid of me! I wanted to go the entire way and make everyone here miserable!" Fran-CINE objected as the guards were still pulling her away. "When this is all over, I swear I'll return and make everyone here pay for their treason against robots! I swear it!"_

**Voting History:**

**Fran-CINE – Amy, Angela, Corey, Danglars, Erica, Mongo and Tempo**

**Angela – Fran-CINE**

Author's Notes: Fran-CINE was a fun character to write for (and, to be honest, one of the easiest), but I knew that she wasn't in for the long haul when I knew that she would be a saboteur. I know that she wasn't as visible for the first couple of episodes, but that's because I wanted to give her a big last couple of episodes to make her elimination satisfying. That being said, I think Fran-CINE lasted pretty long for someone whose sole purpose is to make her tribe miserable.


	7. Days 15 to 17

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"Well…That was interesting." Danglars said once everyone had returned to camp. Amy promptly swatted him upside the head.

"_We just voted out Fran-CINE, which is good and all because we found out she was the saboteur. However, she tried to attack Angela after the fact!" Amy said. "And the most-surprising part? Angela didn't even flinch!"_

"How the heck were you not in fear at that display, Angela?" Amy demanded.

"Believe me, I've survived worse. If she DID touch me, I would easily take her apart." Angela replied. "Besides, I don't think they would eject me for physical violence if it would be in self-defense."

"Yeah. I guess that's right." Amy scratched her head.

"_To be frank, Fran-CINE's attitude surprised me a little; not because she tried to attack me, but apparently Kenal WASN'T blackmailing her." Angela said. "It seems apparent that Kendall was telling me a half-truth back then, but the biggest question is why he would even bother…"_

"Well, now that THAT'S done, what happens now?" Mongo asked, arms folded.

"Well, with Fran-CINE gone, the tribe will probably be a little better-off." Danglars supplied. "And now we don't have her holding us back in challenges."

Tempo glanced at Angela. "How'd you find out Fran-CINE was the one that was sabotaging you guys to begin with?" He asked.

"One of the three that went to your tribe came and told me." Angela waved it off. "It's not really that important."

"_It's good that Angela got the others to vote out one of their own. That means that Erica and I are safe for now." Tempo said. "If there was enough conflict on this tribe before we showed up, maybe we aren't in as bad of a position as I initially thought…"_

"_Man. That robot sure weren't friendly, tryin' ta attack Angela like that. Seeing Angela stare her down reminded me of my mom that one time a buncha coyotes were approaching the farm." Corey admitted. "They stared into mom's eyes fer a few seconds before some just collapsed while the rest ran in fright!"_

"I say we head to bed. At least we'll sleep better knowing nothing will get destroyed when we wake up." Danglars chuckled.

"Yeah. Ah'm with him." Corey nodded. "Ah'm beat."

The tribe decided to go to bed, knowing that they would need to be prepared if they had a challenge. That being said, they knew they'd be getting better sleep…

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 15)**

Brock watched as Gary walked by, carrying a load of rocks and whistling a casual tune. He shook his head as Gary walked by. "I still haven't gotten used to that." He muttered.

"It's unusual at first, but you indeed get used to it." Riddle shrugged.

"_I'd say that I'm pretty strong. Heck, I'd HAVE to be to be a superhero, after all. But seeing what Gary can lift without breaking a sweat is just mind-boggling, especially when you consider his age." Brock explained. "I mean, he's one of the oldest ones here! How is he able to lift so much?"_

"Why did we need all of those rocks again?" Brock asked.

"Additional seating around the fire pit." Riddle explained. "For when the merge hits."

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about that?" Brock asked. "And…How do you know we'll be merging at this camp to begin with?"

"You yourself said that we had the better camp."

"That's just my opinion, and that was mainly because you guys got the waterfall."

"_It never hurts to plan ahead. If I make the merge, I don't want to be caught with no seating for the merged players, since there will undoubtedly be a lot." Riddle explained. "Brock may not see the logic in me doing things this early, but like I said, it's better to be prepared."_

Kenal hovered over and stopped beside the two. "Gary doesn't appear to be losing any steam." He noted.

"He practically put up the shelter by himself." Riddle half-joked. "Oh, that reminds me. Who do you suppose was eliminated at the last Tribal Council?"

"If I was a betting Dalek, I would guess Fran-CINE." Kenal explained.

"She was that yellow robot, wasn't she?" Gary double-checked as he was walking by.

"Yeah. She was WAY too miserable at camp." Brock agreed. "None of us like her a lot."

"Indeed." Kenal added. "In fact, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see her gone."

"_I still haven't told anyone that Fran-CINE was the one causing trouble at camp, but if she's gone the next time we have a challenge, there won't be any harm in telling." Kenal explained. "I just don't want to run the risk of me saying the wrong thing and going back on my word to keep her secret."_

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 15)**

"Well, I think we managed to dodge a bullet the size of Texas back there." Mongo said. "How long do you think this will last?"

"In all honesty, I don't think we should be worried yet." Danglars said. "You know what Angela values most, right?"

"Strength. That's a no-brainer." Mongo rolled her eyes.

"So then, logically, who's the first person she's likely to go after?"

Mongo paused. "Erica?"

"Right."

"_The beauty of having a strength-fanatic in charge is that she'll value you if you're relatively-strong, which Mongo and I both are." Danglars said. "In fact, Erica's probably on the bubble because she's the weakest here."_

Mongo appeared to be in thought. "So…Angela will likely avoid us altogether and focus on Erica?" She checked.

"For as long as Erica's here, I suppose." Danglars shrugged.

Mongo smirked. "This gives me an idea." She said.

"_Sure, Angela targets the weak, but what better way to stay out of harm's way than to keep the weakest player around?" Mongo quizzed. "If Danglars and I can align with Erica and keep her around for a few votes, then Angela will likely target her and her alone."_

Mongo approached Erica and relayed the thought to her. "You guys want to align with me?" She asked.

"We need the numbers." Mongo explained. "If you join us, then we'd just need one more for the majority."

"Maybe we can convince the others to go after Tempo." Danglars added.

"Well…The thought's tempting." Erica admitted.

"You've got a little bit of time to think it over." Danglars supported.

"Just…Try not to take too long." Mongo said.

"_Mongo and Danglars forming an alliance with me could probably be my best chance. I know I'm pretty much a sitting duck otherwise." Erica admitted. "I just hope this could pay off. I really need to weigh my options and see what I'm up against."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Kendall's been coming to me for strategy ever since he showed up. Do I trust him? Of course not, but that means that I just need to keep a closer watch over him." Samantha said. "He's been providing insight on Brock, Kenal and the happenings of the other tribe, so it's been giving me ideas, at least."_

"I think the obvious choices for targets at the moment are Chloe and Kenal." Kendall said. "Chloe's weak and Kenal only has the one arm."

"But he's proved to be a help in challenges, though." Samantha said.

"Only in select challenges. Remember that."

"Why are you guys talking about voting someone off?" Robert asked. "I mean, wouldn't it make more sense just to win every challenge we have from now on?"

Kendall and Samantha cast glances at Robert, but otherwise ignored him and returned to their talking. Robert scratched his head. "Uh…Hello?" He asked.

"_I don't like it when people don't pay attention to me. It makes me feel dumb." Robert pouted. "I know they mean well, but I wish they would at least listen to me. Isn't that what friends do?"_

"There's something you don't know about Chloe, though. She found Exile's Immunity Idol after one visit." Samantha said.

Robert nodded. "Yeah. That's how that Tomato girl got eliminated."

"Hmm…First visit?" Kendall asked.

"There wasn't anyone there that wasn't shocked." Samantha said.

"_Kendall wants to vote out Kenal, but I want to make sure he votes my way. I don't work for him." Samantha said. "I just need to establish the fact that Chloe's a bigger threat than she seems and we should be able to get him to vote with us."_

"She's a lot smarter than she looks. It may seem like she was dependant on Tempo, but that's not the case." Samantha informed.

"Hmm…Interesting. I never would have picture her to be good at finding things." Kendall admitted.

"_Samantha's being a little stubborn here. I'm offering her my services in voting out Kenal, someone I shouldn't even be gunning for, and she's persistent with eliminating Chloe." Kendall said. "Don't get me wrong; I have no intention of honouring any sort of deal I make with her. It's just that now I may need to do it a little earlier than I thought…"_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_Now that the terror that is Fran-CINE is gone, I can enjoy myself with my new tribe-mates. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a ladies' man, and we've got three great-looking women on my tribe." Tempo explained. "Much better than what I had previously. However, Angela still makes me a little uneasy, so I'm limited to Corey and Mongo. Well, at least I know who to flirt with first."_

"So you like the quiet life of the country?" Tempo asked.

"Yep. Never really got into the city. Ah'm tellin' ya, nothing beats layin' in the grass after a day's work and counting the stars." Corey said with a smile.

"Even the stars aren't as radiant as the lights of your eyes. They're so majestic." Tempo said.

"Uh…Heh…Thanks, pardner." Corey said.

"I mean, I don't want to put the other girls down, but I think they have nothing on you."

"Look…Uh…Ah appreciate the compliments, but…Ah don't think it'd work out." Corey said hesitantly.

"Why's that?"

"My dad carries a big shotgun and he don't like it when perverts try ta hit on me."

Tempo quickly and quietly slunk back.

"_Guys like Tempo are funny because they think they're such smooth talkers with the girls. Ah gotta couple a' friends that may like him, but there ain't much Ah can do fer him." Corey shrugged. "So…Yeah. He's basically on his own there."_

_Tempo nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…If Corey's dad is watching this, please forgive me." He half-pleaded._

"What's up, guys?" Danglars asked as he approached the two.

"Aw, nothin'. Tempo and Ah were just talkin' bout stuff." Corey said, wrapping an arm around Tempo's shoulder.

"Uh…Yeah. Sure." Tempo said.

Night eventually rolled in. Knowing that there would be a challenge the next day, everyone went to bed to prepare for it.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 16)**

"Brock, I think I could use some help." Chloe said as she approached Brock.

"What is it?"

"Look, we both got separated from our alliances." Chloe explained. "We need to team up."

"What?"

"_Chloe comes up to me and just states out of the blue that we need to team up. I mean, I guess I can get her reasoning." Brock shrugged. "We'll both likely be targets before too long simply because we'll be easy to pick off. While I don't see Kenal coming after me for being an outsider, I wouldn't put it past Kendall…"_

"But think about this, Chloe. There are other alliances here and they'll probably focus on each other since we're non-threats because we're alone." Brock explained. "If we team up, it'll just cause unwanted attention."

"But…But we still need numbers." Chloe explained. "We can't just fly under the radar playing swing votes the entire time!"

"Sometimes, that's the only way to avoid elimination when you're in a minority."

"_I don't like this. I miss being on an alliance with Tempo. At least back then it was a solid alliance. I don't know why Brock is so hesitant." Chloe explained. "This happened to swing votes before: Eventually, the others will get wise and gang up on us."_

"Just…Think about it, okay? Please reconsider it." Chloe said.

"Don't worry." Brock assured.

"We've got treemail." Gary announced as he came into camp. "Time for another challenge."

"I'm going to assume it's a Reward." Riddle said. "We haven't had one in a while."

"It's just asking how good we are in the water." Gary read.

"Well, that rules me out." Kenal said. "If the entire challenge is in the water, I'll have to sit out."

"_It's challenges like this that makes me hate being a robot. I hate having to sit out for so many challenges like this, but I really don't have a choice." Kenal explained. "I hope that this doesn't make me a target in the long run…"_

"_Swimming challenges we should be okay with. Tomato was the only real terrible swimmer we had." Gary shrugged. "Something obviously tells me that there will be more to the challenge than it seems, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens."_

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 16)**

"I think we need to enlist the help of someone to get our numbers back up, Angela." Amy said. "Fran-CINE was a free pass, but when you look at it, there's still just the two of us."

"What about Corey? I thought Brock was able to sway her." Angela folded her arms.

"Maybe so, but I think we should get help from someone else."

"_Even if we DID have Corey on our side, it's still only three people. I was thinking we could try and recruit one of the Ferren players to give us the advantage." Amy suggested. "Since I know Angela doesn't like weak people, that crosses off Erica and leaves us with Tempo."_

"I'm just saying that, if we joined up with Tempo, we'd have an alliance of four instead of three." Amy said.

"I see your point. Tempo's actually pretty strong, so I'm fine with joining up with him." Angela shrugged.

Amy looked relieved. "Great. Should we tell him now?" She asked.

"We should probably let him know before he makes a move on his own." Angela replied.

"_I'm fine with aligning with Tempo. He's fairly strong and he should be able to help us in challenges." Angela explained. "The only drawback he has is that he tends to flirt with women, but it doesn't bother me as much as you'd think it would. There are FAR worse men where I come from."_

"We've got some treemail!" Danglars announced as he entered camp.

Mongo read the letter over Danglars' shoulder. "A swimming challenge?" She asked aloud. "What kind of challenge would we have like that?"

"A swimming race would make more sense as an individual challenge." Danglars scratched his head.

"_We're unsure as to how swimming will factor into the challenge. Maybe we'll need to fetch something out in the water…Or maybe it's an endurance challenge." Danglars said. "But those could be individual challenges as well!"_

"Well, we ain't gonna find out by stayin' here." Corey shrugged. "Let's head out, pardners!"

"How is she so enthusiastic about challenges?" Mongo muttered.

"It's Corey. What do you expect?" Danglars asked, also muttering.

"…Good point."

**(Reward Challenge)**

The Ferren Tribe stood on their mat by the beach, waiting for the Ventala Tribe to come onto the scene so they could start.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the Ventala Tribe." SSBFreak said as Ventala emerged from the jungle and walked into view. Brock, Kenal and Kendall saw who was missing. "Fran-CINE was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Looks like she went back to her ways after I left." Kenal muttered as the Ventala Tribe stepped onto their mat.

"Welcome to your next Reward Challenge, everyone. Here, we will have an endurance challenge on how well you can hold your breath." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw two long beams sitting out in the water. "When I give the signal, you will all go under the water and try to hold your breath longer than anyone else. If you come up out of the water at all, you're out. The tribe with even one person remaining under the water will win Reward, which is both a cooler of fresh water and a coffee maker with a supply of coffee."

This seemed to interest the majority of the contestants. Even the ones that didn't drink coffee would be happy with the fresh water.

"Ferren, you have an extra person. Who's sitting out?"

"I will." Kenal said. "I'm not much use in this challenge."

"Okay. If everyone else will go out into the water, we can begin." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

The fourteen participating players held onto the bar in the water, preparing to hold their breath as soon as the challenge started. Several people were taking deep breaths to prepare themselves.

"Okay. For Reward, Survivors ready?..." SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

Everyone quickly took deep breaths and went under the water, officially starting the challenge.

"We have officially started the countdown and it's only a matter of time before people start dropping out." SSBFreak said as he turned to Kenal. "Who do you think has the edge?"

"I'm unsure, myself. For challenges like this, it could go either way." Kenal admitted. "Someone could not be a very good swimmer and yet be able to hold their breath for a long time."

Several seconds passed and no one had come up for air. This time quickly multiplied and still no one had come up.

"It's been twenty seconds and no one's come up for air yet." SSBFreak said. "This is proving to be the best batch of contestants for this challenge."

Suddenly, bubbles started forming at each of the beams. Kendall, Chloe and Tempo emerged from the water, gasping for air.

"Kendall, Chloe and Tempo are all out. The score is 6-5 for Ventala."

"Man. I thought I took a bigger breath of air." Tempo shook his head as he swam to shore.

When the three ousted contestants were halfway to the shore, Robert emerged from the water as well. He held onto the bar in a death grip.

"Robert is out as well. Ventala is now up 6-4."

Robert swam to shore and still no one else had emerged from the water. "Now that we've started, who do you think can win?" SSBFreak asked.

"I think it could still go either way." Chloe said. "There may be someone on our tribe that can hold their breath real long."

"Longer than the other tribe when you're down two people?"

"Like I said, it could go either way."

Bubbles appeared at one of the bars. Danglars emerged from the water alone.

"Danglars is out."

Erica suddenly emerged from the water beside Danglars and held onto the bar. At the same time, Gary's head shot above the water as he took a deep breath.

"Erica and Gary are both out as well. Ventala's lead is now 4-3."

"That didn't go as well as I had thought it would." Danglars sighed as he swam to shore.

The remaining players continued to hold their breath as time continued to build up. Everyone on the shore was nervously waiting to see who would come up next.

"It's been well over a minute and no one else seems to be coming up." SSBFreak said. "I think it's safe to say that everyone's running on determination alone."

Samantha suddenly emerged from the water with Mongo and Angela right behind her. The three women were incredibly short on breath at this point.

"We have a tie game at 2-2. It's Amy and Corey for Ventala against Brock and Riddle for Ferren."

"I thought for sure everyone would have come up by now." Angela muttered to herself.

Everyone waited for a good several seconds longer before more signs of a struggle were seen. Brock emerged from the water first, with Amy right behind him.

"Brock and Amy are both out." SSBFreak announced. "It's down to Corey vs. Riddle."

The two teams waited in anticipation and surprise at the fact that the two players in question were the last two remaining.

"I didn't think that alien had it in him to do this well…" Angela noted.

"I knew that cowgirl had powerful lungs to talk as long as she does, but this is just ridiculous." Mongo shook her head.

Several more seconds passed and people finally started to see bubbles appearing in the water. Everyone watched intently as the losing player emerged from the water and latched onto the beam.

"Riddle is out! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ventala wins Reward!"

Corey emerged from the water, taking a deep breath as she did. Grabbing the beam, Corey gave Riddle a thumbs-up. Riddle seemed too out of breath to notice.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Ventala. The water cooler and coffee maker will be sent to your tribe and be there when you get back to camp." SSBFreak said. "However, one of you won't see them until tomorrow. You must choose to send one of your own to Exile Island until the Immunity Challenge tomorrow."

"I'm fine with going." Angela nodded.

"Okay. Angela is going to Exile and will meet up with everyone at tomorrow's Immunity Challenge. Ferren Tribe, at least take some comfort in knowing that this wasn't Immunity. Tomorrow's the challenge that counts, so I'll hope that you'll be ready for it." SSBFreak said. "You can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

Tempo made himself a coffee with the new maker and took a sip. "Man. It feels like it's been forever since I've had a good coffee." He said.

Amy smacked her lips in disgust as she looked at the mug in her hands. "This stuff really isn't that good, though." She noted.

"Honestly, I don't care at this point." Tempo shrugged as he took another sip.

"_Yeah, the coffee was cheap, but you learn to treasure what you can when you're on an island for two weeks." Tempo shrugged. "Mind you, I'd dump this stuff in a second for some of the coffee I usually have back home, but beggars really can't be choosers."_

"So you guys were wanting to join me in an alliance?" Tempo asked.

"Yeah. You see, Brock was in our alliance, but he got swapped. We think that you're pretty strong, so we'd like to have you on our side."

"Well, I'm glad that you guys see me as an asset. I was a little worried that I would get targeted for being an outsider." Tempo admitted.

"Well, Angela values strength, so to be fair, you probably shouldn't have worried."

"_Angela went to Exile Island, so it fell upon me to tell Tempo about the plan to bring him into the alliance. He seems like he wants to help us." Amy shrugged. "He just needs to remember not to make himself look like a liability, but I have faith in him for now."_

"So where are people sitting here? I never really figured that out." Tempo asked.

"At the moment, the only solid alliances are myself & Angela and Danglars & Mongo. Corey seems close to swaying to our side, though." Amy pointed out.

"Why's that?"

"Brock spent a lot of time trying to get her to join us. I can't imagine she'd ditch us just because Brock isn't here." Amy shrugged.

Suddenly, Corey walked by the two, heading towards the coffee maker. Tempo saw what she was about to do.

"Uh…What are you doing?" Tempo asked.

"Just gettin' myself some coffee, pardner." Corey replied casually.

"Are you sure it's a GOOD idea for you to have caffeine?"

"Let her do what she wants. She won us the challenge." Amy supplied. "Besides; What's one coffee going to do?"

"…_AndthenAhtookmahcousin'! !" A wide-eyed and extremely-jittery Corey laughed. "'!"_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"Man. That was real close. We could have used that stuff." Brock sighed.

"I know! It was real exciting!" Robert said enthusiastically.

"Why are you so happy? We lost." Kendall asked. He didn't get an answer.

"I've always hated games like that, to be honest. Leaves too much up to chance." Samantha noted.

"_We lost by only a few seconds and it was down to one on one. Not exactly the best feeling in the world to come back to." Samantha said. "It doesn't matter to me that much, but I came here to win; Not to lose."_

"_I love exciting challenges! I was really on the edge of my seat when I got to shore!" Robert exclaimed. "I don't see why people are so upset after watching such a close challenge like that!"_

"I didn't know you could hold your breath for that long, Riddle." Gary said, deciding to strike up more-pleasant talk.

"It is indeed a little surprising, but I suppose I'm just better at things like that." Riddle replied with a smile.

"How the heck were you able to last that long, anyway?" Samantha asked, arms folded.

"That, unfortunately, is a riddle I don't have the answer for."

"_Not even I am aware of how I obtained my abilities to hold my breath, but it still did little to help us." Riddle pointed out. "Even if it was just barely, we still lost. We need to make up for our performance in tomorrow's challenge."_

"At least we know that the next challenge likely won't involve water now that we've had one." Kenal supplied.

"You afraid that you'll make yourself seem useless?" Kendall asked with a smirk.

"I'm a robot. I don't function in water."

"_This will be for later, when I decide to start casting blame. Kenal's a robot that can't touch water, so why not make him seem useless?" Kendall asked, folding his arms. "For the moment, however, he's got nothing to worry about. I've got my eyes set on someone else…"_

**(Exile Island)**

"Hmm…Two letters. That's not at ALL suspicious." Angela said, eyes narrowed, upon seeing two notes in the treemail box.

"_The first thing I did when I got to Exile was to check the clue box for hints on where the idol is. Lo and behold, two letters were in the box instead of one." Angela said. "This is a little frustrating, because this obviously tells me that someone planted a fake idol. The only thing I can do now is look for them both…"_

Taking both clues from the box, Angela looked them over and saw that the writing looked near-identical. "Someone's been practicing." She noted. "They look exactly alike."

Angela wandered around the island, looking at both clues. She started her journey to find the idol, fully-expecting that there would be a fake.

It took a while, but Angela managed to find one of the locations and pulled an idol out of the sand. "Okay. That's one. Now to find the other and compare the two." She said.

"_I searched Exile and I could only find one of the idols, so I literally have no clue if I've got the real or the fake. For all I know, the real one could still be in play and I've got the fake one." Angela said. "The only option I really have at this point is to either come back here later or get one of my alliance-mates to do it. For now, there was only one thing on my mind…"_

"The only people that came here so far have been Chloe and Kendall, and I wouldn't put it past Kendall to try something like this." Angela mused as she inspected the idol in her hands. "At least now I know that he isn't as trustworthy as he made himself out to be…But why did he bother to tell me the truth about Fran-CINE?"

"_This has me confused. Kendall told me that Fran-CINE was the saboteur, which was truthful, but he also told me that Kenal was blackmailing her, which is apparently false." Angela said. "What exactly does he hope to gain from this?"_

Night rolled in and everyone, no matter where they were, decided to go to bed to anticipate the all-important Immunity Challenge the following day.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 17)**

"Hey, guys! We've got treemail!" Tempo announced as he entered the camp.

"Already? We having the challenge earlier or something?" Amy asked.

"_So the first thing we usually do when we get up is check for treemail, although it's more out of habit to see if there's anything there. Usually, treemail doesn't show up until later." Amy said. "Getting treemail this early told us all that something was going to be different with the challenge today."_

"I guess we've already started the challenge." Tempo said. "We need to build and SOS signal at our camp and the winner will be the best one that can be seen from a helicopter."

"So we need to build a signal that can be seen from really high in the air?" Mongo asked. "Couldn't we just build a really big campfire or something?"

"That wouldn't get attention well-enough. Whatever we do needs to be an attention-grabber." Erica shook her head.

"I think Mongo was on the right track about the fire. If we could make it a big enough fire and then do something to it, we may be able to easily get the helicopter's attention." Amy said. "Maybe if we find a way to make it a huge flame and get it to change colour…"

"Here's an idea." Mongo said, arms folded and smirking. "Why don't we get some of you well-endowed girls to strip down to your underwear and dance around the fire? That's sure to get attention."

Blood suddenly burst from Tempo's nose. He quickly held onto his nose and tried to suppress the thoughts.

"I refuse to let my body be used as a sex object!" Amy shouted. "No! That won't do!"

Mongo shrugged. "Just a suggestion, Miss Sunshine."

_Tempo quickly and furiously wiped the blood from under his nose. "Man. I really didn't want that to happen. It's just that the thought of Angela and Corey…Dancing around…" Tempo quickly held onto his nose to prevent another nosebleed. "No! I can't think of that! Angela would kill me if she found out I was thinking that!"_

"Let's just…Start with a fire." Erica suggested. "We'll figure out a way to expand from there."

Amy paused, then nodded. "Okay. It's probably our best chance at the moment." She said. "But NO dancing!"

"Whatever." Mongo rolled her eyes.

"_Where's that woman's sense of humour? It was a JOKE." Mongo said flatly._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 17)**

"We need to create some kind of signal?" Gary asked.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Kenal noted. "I think we have enough supplies to help us."

"_So we have to create an SOS signal visible from a helicopter for the challenge. If we can create the right signal, we should have this one in the bag." Kenal said. "We obviously don't know what the other team's going to do, so we just need to make sure that we pull out all the stops."_

"Any suggestions?" Gary asked. "I guess…I guess a fire's too ordinary?"

"It'd be hard to make it visible from the sky." Samantha shook her head.

"How about we all dance around the fire pit and wave our arms around?" Robert suggested brightly.

"We want to make an SOS signal, Robert. We don't want to make it look like a pow-wow." Kenal explained.

"What's a pow-wow?"

"How about an explosion?" Kendall asked. "That'd be sure to get someone's attention."

"No. It's not original anymore." Riddle shook his head.

"How is an explosion not original?"

"I can recall TWO other times where an explosion's been used." Riddle said. "We may get called out on it."

"Guys, what's a pow-wow?" Robert asked. He was ignored.

"_The last time an explosion was used was back in a season of Survivor that I had done in the past. Granted, I was already eliminated by that point, but it was still done." Riddle shrugged. "The other time was apparently from some crazy, orange-haired girl from Canada, but I never really looked into that too much."_

"How about a rock formation?" Gary asked. "We could have it send out a message that's sure to get attention."

"How would we do that? Write a message of expletives that the censors would have to blank out?" Samantha asked.

"I just think that the rock formation may be the best way to help us win. If we write an original message, it'll get attention." Gary shrugged. "Sometimes, the simplest ways are the best ways to do things."

"_Seriously. What's a pow-wow?" Robert asked. "Do you know what a pow-wow is? It sounds painful."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

Angela walked back into camp, fresh from her return from Exile Island. She saw everyone bustling around and looked around for someone. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Oh! You're back!" Danglars said. "We're in the middle of the Immunity Challenge!"

"_I received treemail on Exile that I'd be going straight to my camp instead of the challenge, and now I see why. However, I wasn't told what the challenge would be, so Danglars and Amy had to fill me in." Angela shrugged. "Judging from what I've heard, I think we've got a shot."_

"So you guys are just going to make a big fire?" Angela asked.

"Pretty much covers it, pardner." Corey nodded. "We just need to find a way to make it more-original."

Gears turned in Angela's head for a little bit before she opened her eyes. "I think I may have an idea." She said.

"Hey, great!"

"_Angela didn't really tell me what her plan was. She just started grabbin' spare firewood and hauled it over to the middle of camp." Corey scratched her head. "She didn't tell anyone what she was planning until she had made everyone bring over all the lumber we had."_

"You want to burn our entire stash of firewood?" Mongo cried. "We need that! Are you crazy?"

"Firewood will be easy to come by. We just need to collect it again." Angela insisted. "For my idea, we write out a message out of firewood and light the entire thing on fire."

Erica scratched her head. "That's actually a pretty good idea." She admitted.

"Yeah. I'm fine with that." Danglars nodded. "It wouldn't take us terribly long to get more wood, anyway."

"_I'm not big on using up all the firewood we've got at once. I mean, that stuff's supposed to keep us warm, so wouldn't it make sense to keep some of it?" Erica asked._

"_Hey, when you've got a challenge where you can't see what the enemy is doing, you need to take desperate measures." Danglars shrugged. "If it'll win us the challenge, I'll gladly sacrifice what firewood we've got. Of course, the problem is getting a decent fire going without flint…"_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"How's the message coming?" Gary asked as he moved some stones into place.

"Pretty good. I think I've got some extra ones if anyone needs any." Chloe said.

"No. Keep those stones and try to make some kind of design around the letters."

"_The way Gary took charge for this challenge kind of took me by surprise. I knew he was laid-back, but I didn't really expect him to have any sort of decorating knowledge." Chloe scratched her head. "Then again, I don't think anyone else had any real idea of what to do, so we just let him lead."_

"You think this'll be enough to get attention?" Brock asked as he put more stones into place.

"Honestly, I don't really know. It depends on what our old tribe decided to do." Kendall said. "I mean, I've seen challenges like these before, and I've seen pretty pathetic signals."

"Yeah, but I think this will at least be unique enough to garner attention."

"Oh, it's unique. I just don't know it it's enough."

"_I'm fine with the signal that we're doing. It's to the point, it's big enough to get attention and we'll all be waving up at the helicopter as it passes overhead." Brock explained. "I know that the other team, our old tribe, could be planning something even bigger, but for what we could do, I'm satisfied."_

"_I don't like this because if we lose the challenge, I can't blame the loss on Gary. I mean, I COULD, but there's no way the others would vote him out this early." Kendall said. "If we lose, I'll probably be a potential target, so I need to make sure the attention stays off of me."_

Samantha was in the process of moving some rocks into one of the letters when she saw that Robert was moving some letters off an already-constructed letter. "Robert, what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm making nice little designs around the letters." Robert said happily.

"By taking rocks from a letter we've already FINISHED? Samantha asked.

Robert stood in silence for a few seconds, looked at his handiwork and quickly moved the rocks back into their original positions.

_Samantha sat in front of the camera and slapped herself on the forehead._

**(Immunity Results)**

A helicopter flew over the island, flying around the two camps. SSBFreak leaned out of an open door and held up a megaphone.

"Okay, everyone! Here is where I review your signals and determine the winner of Immunity!" SSBFreak shouted into the megaphone. "The winners here will be safe for a few more days, and the losers will vote someone off at Tribal Council tonight! After I take a look at both signals, I'll determine the winner and announce it from here!"

Everyone could hear the host clearly, even over the roar of the helicopter's engine and blades. The two tribes quickly went to work and made finishing touches.

"First up is the Ventala Tribe! Let's see how they did!" SSBFreak said as the helicopter flew over the Ventala Tribe's camp.

The Ventala Tribe had taken all of their firewood and had assembled a large message that read "SOS" a couple of times and "HELP US" a couple of times. The entire message was on fire and was clearly visible from the helicopter.

"Not bad and a clever use of an old campfire signal!" SSBFreak announced as the helicopter flew over to the other camp. "Now it's time for the Ferren Tribe!"

SSBFreak's eyes widened. The Ferren Tribe's message had been made with stones and rocks, but the message it spelled out was so explicit that a huge censor bar was draped over the entire message.

"Well…It certainly caught my attention!" SSBFreak announced. "It's going to be close! I can tell you that! Now that I've seen both signals, I need to determine who the winners are!"

The two tribes waited in silence, hoping for good news as SSBFreak vanished into the helicopter and emerged moments later.

"Okay! I've made my decision! The winners are…"

"…The Ventala Tribe! Ventala wins Immunity!" SSBFreak announced.

The Ventala Tribe cheered at their success before they rushed to put out the fire and salvage some of the wood. The Ferren Tribe looked a little frustrated at the results…

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"Well, THAT sucks. I thought for SURE we'd have a better signal." Chloe folded her arms. "You think we should have made it more explicit?"

"I don't think that would have been possible." Kenal replied.

"_Well, we just lost the challenge and now we have to vote someone out. Frankly, I think we should just get rid of Samantha now and be done with it." Chloe explained. "We may have been temporary allies, but I'd rather align with the Ventala players than her."_

Kendall walked over to Samantha and Robert and looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Okay. I'm willing to get rid of Kenal, but I want some assistance later. You two okay with that?" He asked.

"That's fine, but I want to make sure that we have the majority." Samantha said.

"I can't see why people wouldn't want to get rid of Kenal." Kendall shrugged. "He didn't really do a lot on the other tribe."

"But there's just…Uh…" Robert said before counting the people present. "Three of us."

"Let me worry about that."

"_Kendall said he would help us get the numbers, and we're trusting him. He seems like an okay guy if he just wants to help us just like that." Robert said. "Samantha is a little iffy on the idea, but I think it'll be fine."_

After talking with Samantha, Kendall walked over to the trio of Chloe, Brock and Kenal. "Okay. They're voting for Kenal."

"Why should we trust you?" Chloe asked.

"Believe me. The last thing I want is a girl like her with power." Kendall said. "I want to weaken her as soon as I can."

"Well…If she's gunning for me, then I suppose we can head her off and vote her out in a majority." Kenal explained.

"Actually, I have a better idea."

"_I've never really trusted Kendall, but I have to admit that he usually has his head on straight. I feel that he's being honest in this instance." Kenal explained. "If we can take Samantha by surprise and blindside her alliance, it may give us the edge we need."_

"_Hey, if we can keep the Ventala players around as long as possible, I'm all for it." Brock shrugged._

**(Tribal Council)**

The eight members of Ferren walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Finding a spot, everyone sat down and waited for council to begin.

"Welcome to Tribal Council, Ferren Tribe. In a moment, you'll all be voting one of your own out of the game." SSBFreak explained. "Riddle, you were able to avoid the first post-swap Tribal Council. Do you think it helped you?"

"I believe so. In keeping the Ventala players around longer, we've grown more used to them and we understand how they play." Riddle explained. "If we went to Council just after we made the swap, we would be more off-guard."

"That brings up another question. Brock, this is the first time I've seen you guys since the swap. How is the new tribe?"

"Honestly, I like it better than ours. Ferren has a waterfall that Chloe, Robert and I have been using a lot." Brock explained. "Sure, the lake isn't as big as Ventala's, but hey. We have a WATERFALL."

"You said it. I'd take a waterfall over a bigger lake anyday." Chloe nodded. "To this day, I'm still not disappointed."

"Samantha, you guys lost the challenge today. What do you think went wrong?"

"I think it was just a weak idea. Sure, none of us could think of anything else, but I still think it was a weak idea in general." Samantha said.

"And who's at fault?"

"Gary. It was his idea."

"Kendall, does this mean that you guys are targeting Gray?"

"Of course not. He's WAY too strong and if we get rid of him, we'll probably keep coming back here until the merge." Kendall said, eyes narrowed.

"It's still his fault for coming up with the idea." Samantha said.

"I didn't hear anyone give any better ideas, Samantha." Gary shrugged. "I'm always open to suggestions."

"Chloe, why do you think there's so much tension here?"

"Basically, it's all because of Samantha. She's trying to stir up as much drama as possible to keep us at each other's throats." Chloe rolled her eyes. "To be frank, it really hasn't worked yet."

"Then why am I still here?" Samantha asked with a smirk.

"Because alliances would be in the minority without your vote. That's why." Chloe shot back. "Believe me, we could dump you anytime we wanted."

"Chloe, calm down." Brock hushed.

"Robert, how do you think you did in the challenge?"

"I thought we tried as best as we could. Nothing really to complain about there." Robert shrugged. "I was told to make some letters out of rocks and I did it."

"Uh…Do you even know what you wrote?"

"Nope. Can't read big words like that." Robert shrugged.

"Well, I think that's enough questions. It's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Riddle, you're up."

Riddle stepped up, left the hut and went over to the voting table. Writing a name down, the alien silently put the ballot into the urn.

Brock walked up to the table and wrote a name down. "I hope this is the right choice." He mused as he voted and left the table.

Samantha scribbled a name down and showed it to the camera. "We'll get rid of a liability and whittle down the Ventala players at once." She said, having voted for Kenal.

Chloe looked a little put off as she wrote a name down and put it in the urn. "I wish I could send my vote somewhere else." She said as she walked away.

Gary silently wrote a name down and put the ballot into the jar. His job done, Gary went back to the hut as quietly as he came.

Kendall was smirking as he wrote a name down. "Time to shake things up a little." He said as he voted and left the table.

Kenal hovered over to the table and used his claw to write a name. He dropped the ballot into the urn and left to return to the hut.

Robert, after writing, turned his ballot around, revealing a poorly-written Kenal's name. "Samantha told me how to spell his name. I hope this is the right way." He said.

Once all eight players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." SSBFreak said. Everyone remained silent, no one playing an idol if they had any. "…It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Kenal." Kenal simply hovered in place silently.

"Kenal. He leads with two." Kenal felt a little nervous, but didn't appear to show it.

"…Robert." Samantha's eyes widened.

"Robert. We're tied at two." "What?" Samantha asked. Robert looked surprised.

"Robert." "What happened?" Robert asked.

"Robert." Samantha couldn't believe what was happening. "Next vote and sixth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Robert. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Robert sighed as he stood up and grabbed his torch. "It's okay. I still hope one of you guys wins." He said as he walked up to the host.

"Robert, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Robert's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"I'm rooting for you guys!" Robert called out cheerfully as he walked out of the hut, not looking back.

Once Robert was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "Six have fallen and fourteen remain. If tonight's vote is any indication, it's that the vote is never final until after everyone has cast their ballots. I hope you remember that, because you're going to need pointers like that to survive." He explained. "The playing field is now even again. Hopefully, the Ferren Tribe won't end up at a disadvantage like they were when we started. You can all head back to camp."

The seven remaining Ferren players stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council. Samantha brought up the rear, looking mad. She had just officially lost both of her alliance members, the only two people stupid enough to believe her. Now she needed to think up another way to get votes…

"_I'm happy that I was able to do this. I had a lot of fun and I don't have any regrets." Robert said contently. "This game is a lot different than the games I'm used to playing, but I had the time of my life with the experience. Thanks!"_

**Voting History:**

**Robert – Brock, Chloe, Gary, Kenal, Kendall and Riddle**

**Kenal – Robert and Samantha**

Author's Notes: And Robert is the next one to go, leaving Samantha without any allies. I enjoyed writing for Robert, but I knew that he wouldn't have any major longevity. I knew that he wouldn't make the merge, so he was eliminated after the swap, more for story reasons than anything.


	8. Days 18 to 19

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_What the heck happened back there? Kendall told me that we had his vote and that he would try to make people, and instead he votes with everyone else and gets rid of my ally!" Samantha shouted. "That hairy rat will have a lot to answer for! He just turned my last plan on its head!"_

Samantha quickly grabbed Kendall's arm and hauled him to the side. "Would you care to tell me why you voted out my ally?" She asked.

"Come on. You should have seen it coming." Kendall rolled his eyes. "You had power, which in your hands isn't a good thing and the only reason I lobbied to vote out Robert instead of you was because you're smarter."

"And why would you want to do that in the first place?"

Kendall smirked. "So I can ally with you without having to worry about a backstab."

"What?"

"_Taking out Robert and eliminating Samantha's fallbacks pretty much cemented her needing me. Now that she's alone, I join forces with her and take apart everyone else." Kendall said. "If she wasn't alone, she would have sold me out without a second thought."_

"Face it, Samantha. You need me now." Kendall taunted. "If you want to have any chance at making it any further, you need to align with me, and let me assure you that I'm much-more competent than the dope we just voted out."

Samantha seethed for a few seconds before glaring at Kendall. "Okay, fine. We'll play things your way for now." She said.

"_It's official. I hate monkeys." Samantha muttered._

Chloe sighed and looked at Riddle and Gary. "Why couldn't we have just voted out Samantha?" She asked.

"Who's the stronger player, Chloe? Her or Robert?" Riddle quizzed.

"_Chloe is upset that we didn't get rid of Samantha like she's been wanting, but I still say it's for the better of the tribe." Riddle pointed out. "Robert won't help us wins challenges, and Samantha knows she's likely going next, so she'll be trying her hardest to help us win."_

"_Now I want to get that idol even more. If no one else wants to vote out Samantha with it, then I'll just have to do it myself." Chloe folded her arms. "I just wish I didn't have to wait until we won the next Reward Challenge before I could go back to Exile…"_

The tribe of seven went to bed. Even if they weren't expecting a challenge, they knew they needed the sleep.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 18)**

"So there were two notes in the treemail box on Exile?" Amy asked.

"One of the notes was obviously forged, but the clues went in two directions." Angela said as she fished the idol she found on Exile from her pocket. "One of the clues directed me to this, but I couldn't find the other and I have no idea if this is the real one or not."

"Man. You don't even want to play it until you're certain, don't you?"

"Truthfully? No."

"_This is a bit of a setback. Normally, we'd be ecstatic about finding the idol, but Angela says that someone planted a fake there and we don't know if she found the real one." Amy sighed. "I guess the only real thing we can do for now is lay low and hope we see someone play the other idol."_

"Look, the next time we win Reward, how about I go to Exile and see if I can find the other idol?" Amy suggested. "That way, whenever one of us is a target at Tribal Council, we can play both if need be."

"Sounds like a plan. We just need to survive until the next Reward." Angela nodded.

"_Someone's obviously playing the game smart here, planting a fake idol. Personally, after lying to me about Kenal, I suspect Kendall." Angela said. "I don't have any concrete evidence, but my gut instincts are usually right."_

Mongo observed the two talking as she took a sip of coffee. "I wonder if Angela found the idol on Exile…" She mused.

Danglars shrugged as he drank some more water. "If she did, she did. It's not like we're targeting her, right?" He asked.

"But we will eventually! And she has an entire alliance to give the idol to!" Mongo said.

"So…We can't just vote for her?" Danglars asked. "I mean, it would take her off-guard and get rid of the idol if she DOES have it."

Mongo was about to make a retort, but froze in mid-thought. After a few seconds, she sighed and pouted.

"_There are times where that doof shows signs of intelligence, I'll admit." Mongo sighed._

"So you like the idea?" Danglars asked with a smile. "Hah! Looks like I'm not useless after all!"

Mongo's response was to splash her almost-full cup of coffee into Danglars' face.

Danglars screamed in pain. "AUGH! What the crap was that for?" He demanded.

"I felt like it." Mongo said as she got up and made herself another cup of coffee.

Danglars screamed further, leapt up, ran over to the lake and dunked his head into the water.

_Sitting in front of the camera with a water-logged head, Danglars spat out a fountain of water. "Serves me right for giving her ideas." He moaned._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 18)**

"So let me get this straight; You found the idol on your first visit to Exile…" Brock said.

"Yep!" Chloe said proudly. "It was more luck that I found it when I did. I just kinda stumbled upon it."

"But…You DIDN'T leave a fake behind."

"No. I admit that it's a good idea, but it didn't occur to me at the time." Chloe shrugged. "Why?"

"That actually tells me what I need to know."

"_Chloe says she didn't make the fake idol that sunk Zeg a while back. This tells me that Kendall make the fake and gave it to Zeg to sink himself." Brock said. "That also means that he was the mysterious vote for Zeg."_

"Kenal, can we talk?" Brock asked as he and Chloe walked over to Kenal.

"What is it?" Kenal asked.

"I think I may have reached a conclusion on who planted the fake idol that Kendall found." Brock folded his arms.

"Really? Who was it?"

"Kendall himself."

"_Brock tells me that Kendall was the one to make the fake idol since Chloe denies doing it. Now that I've grown familiar with Chloe, I think Brock may be right." Kenal pointed out. "Kendall has always seemed distant from the rest of us, but we assumed that he wasn't much of a socialite."_

"Kendall was the one to come to us about voting out Robert, right?" Brock checked.

Chloe's eyes widened. "Did he just want to eliminate her ally so he could join her?" She asked.

"That's probably the most-likely reason." Kenal replied. "He's probably been playing us since we started."

"I told you guys that I wanted to eliminate Samantha last night!" Chloe insisted.

"Maybe we still can. She's not well-liked, is she?" Brock asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Chloe asked flatly.

"_Now that we know what Kendall's up to, we may have a chance to counteract it. If we can get Gary and Riddle to vote with us, then we've got it good." Kenal insisted. "Unfortunately, I know that Samantha's one of those people that won't go down without a fight, so I expect some major resistance."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"So…Three coyotes at once?" Tempo asked.

Corey laughed. "Yeah. It sure was funny ta see Uncle Leeroy start a fistfight with those, but once those things bit one of his legs, it stopped gettin' funny." She shrugged. "Then again, Ah guess soakin' his underwear in meat were a bad idea fer a joke, anyway."

"Doing it in coyote season? I'd say so."

Erica rolled her eyes. "Is there anyone ELSE in your family that's as much of an abusement-magnet as your demented uncle?" She asked.

"Sure. Ah mean, mah family's got one-a the highest accident rates in the county." Corey said. "Mah little brother, mah cousins, mah grandpa...We must visit the hospital several times a month."

"_I personally don't know why Tempo is so into listening to Corey. Something tells me that he's attracted to her, in which case he's beyond help at this point." Erica asked flatly._

"_Hey, you can't blame me for wanting to talk to a pretty girl. Even if I can't go any further than that, I enjoy women's company." Tempo said. "Like I've said, my options were limited on Ferren, so at least I'm having a better time here."_

"So what have you been doing this entire game?" Tempo asked. "Make any friends at all?"

"Yeah. Ah formed a bit of an alliance with Brock, but now he's on the other tribe." Corey said. "Other than that, Ah get along with most people here."

Erica's eyes widened. "Wait. With Brock?" She asked. "Does Angela know?"

"Ah think so. Ah've voted with them every time." Corey scratched her head.

"_Ah tend ta say a lot when mah mind wanders, but Ah don't think tellin' them about mah friendship with Brock is gonna affect anything." Corey shrugged. "Ah mean, sure, it's an alliance, but Ah thought he were just includin' me with Angela and Amy."_

"_If Angela doesn't know about this, then maybe I have something I can use against Brock later." Erica mused. "When it gets to that point, I need to start playing to win, and I'm going to need all the ammunition I can get."_

"Uh…I think I'll go swimming." Erica mused as she wandered off.

Tempo watched Erica wander off, then turned his attention back to Corey. "So…Your uncle. Did he lose his leg?" He asked.

"Yeah. It had ta be amputat'erd or somethin'." Corey said. "He got a fake, bionic leg now. He can hit a golf ball further than any club could now, ya know?"

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"Why are you wanting to get rid of an old ally?" Gary asked.

"Truth be told, Kenal was never really my ally." Kendall admitted. "I was always lobbying to get rid of him since he seemed to be holding the tribe back."

"If memory serves me correctly, your tribe won the majority of the challenges pre-swap." Riddle reminded.

"Yeah, but what use do you think a one-armed robot with no legs is going to do?"

"_Now that I'm in a concrete alliance I have control over, I can start lobbying for votes. Since Gary and Riddle appear to be swing votes here, I'll go to them." Kendall said. "Kenal's an easy target because of his flaws, but I just need to make him a bigger target than Samantha at the moment."_

"_Honestly, Kendall's a little strange. He seems a little too sneaky for my tastes, like he's secretly planning to backstab us the instant we have our backs turned." Gary mused before shrugging. "Not that Samantha was any different, to be honest."_

"Just keep it in the backs of your minds. You want an easy vote? Vote off Kenal and I'll side with you." Kendall said before taking his leave.

"I don't really like him." Gary said.

"Neither do I, but his logic was sound." Riddle admitted.

Gary simply sighed. "Here we go again."

"_I know it may seem like I'm becoming a villain, but that's the last thing I want. I'm just seeing some points to what's being said to me." Riddle admitted. "That's part of what makes me who I am. Of course, this simply adds more pieces to the puzzle of what I should do in the end, because I fear both actions will result in something bad…"_

"I think it'll work." Kendall said confidently as he walked over to Samantha.

"It had better." Samantha warned. "If I get eliminated next because this plan of your fails, I'm going to expose you on my way out."

Kendall's eyes widened. "Wait. You wouldn't…"

"You don't like anyone here?" Samantha asked with a smirk. "News flash, genius. Neither do I, and that INCLUDES you."

"_That idiot monkey doesn't have me wrapped around his finger like he thinks he does. The instant his plans fail, I swear I'll take him down with me." Samantha said with a smirk._

"_This is why I hate working with people." Kendall sighed in frustration._

Night eventually rolled in. Knowing that there would be a challenge tomorrow, everyone went to bed.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 19)**

Angela walked over to see Danglars laying by the shore of the lake, head submerged in the water. "I thought he had done that yesterday to get rid of the burning." Angela said.

Mongo chuckled. "He relapsed."

A few large bubbles appeared by Danglars' head signaling that he was telling Mongo something.

"_Man! Getting coffee splashed on you HURTS! The first thing I felt when I woke up was a big burning sensation, like the coffee ghost came back to haunt me!" Danglars said, his head dripping wet again._

"I hope that you're ready for the challenge today." Angela said.

"I can't speak for Danglars. This is the only way I've seen him since I got up."

"Uh…Is he dead?"

"Hey, Danglars? Are you dead?" Mongo asked casually.

Danglars responded by sticking his thumb into the air, his head still under the water.

"Okay. Just thought I'd check." Angela said as she walked off.

"_There are people I feel I can get through to, and then there are Danglars and Mongo. Danglars seems incapable of processing a complex idea and Mongo doesn't seem to WANT to." Angela noted. "People like that don't last long where I come from."_

"We've got treemail." Erica announced as she came into camp.

"That didn't take long." Tempo noted.

Erica paused to glance up beside her, at the soaking-wet Danglars. "Do I even want to know?" She asked.

"Probably not." Danglars admitted.

"Well, it looks like we've got a trivia challenge ahead of us." Erica said, reading the treemail.

"How's your trivia, everyone?" Tempo asked.

"In what subject, brainiac?" Mongo asked.

"_Trivia is good for me. I hope it's a subject I know, but I'm pretty comfortable with trivia in any form. Genius-level intellect, you know?" Erica said with a smirk._

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 19)**

Kenal watched as Brock did a cannonball off the top of the waterfall, landing in the lake with a cheer. "I have to admit that you humans have strange ways to entertain yourselves." He said.

"Too bad you're a robot. You'd probably love the water." Brock noted.

"_I guess a setback to being a robot is that they can't really do what everyone else can, like swim. That would suck if it was me." Brock noted. "But hey, he seems okay with it, and there's gotta be some kind of advantage robots have over humans…"_

"It's a little bit of a letdown. I admit that I've always wondered what it's like to swim." Kenal admitted. "However, since that's not how I came to be, I have to make the best of things."

"You think it's going to be Reward or Immunity?" Brock asked.

Kenal paused. "I'll say…Immunity." He said. "I'm trying to work out the remaining days in my head and we still need to have a couple of quick Immunities to fit into 39 days."

Chloe walked up to Kenal. "That's kind of creepy." She said.

"It's what I do."

"_Kenal's cool and all, but the fact that he's a robot tends to make things a little strange. I mean, the fact that he doesn't speak with a lot of emotion is strange in itself." Chloe said. "Still, he's a good guy, so I guess I can't really complain."_

"We appear to have treemail, everyone." Riddle announced.

"Sweet! What's it say?" Chloe asked.

"It's wondering how good we are with trivia." Riddle said. "Hmm…This could be my challenge."

"We'll have to hope so." Gary said, scratching his head. "I don't know how well the majority of us would be able to fare."

"Try keeping your thoughts to yourself, Gary." Kendall said, eyes narrowed.

"_Trivia is good because I know I've got a chance." Riddle said. "Sure, we don't know what the subject is, but I'm confident enough in my abilities that we can pull out on top. We'll just have to see how it all pans out."_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The Ventala Tribe stood on their mat in a clearing, waiting for the challenge to begin.

"Before we start, let's bring out the Ferren Tribe." SSBFreak announced as Ferren emerged from the jungle. People looked and saw who was missing. "Robert was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Looks like Samantha's strength has weakened." Erica mused with a smirk as Ferren stepped onto their mat.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, everyone. Here, you will all be competing against each other as I ask question pertaining to the first three seasons of Survivor: Central Hub. If you get an answer wrong, you're out. Why are you all competing against each other? Because this is INDIVIDUAL Immunity. Both tribes will be going to Tribal Council tonight."

This caught the tribes by surprise. Most people looked nervous at the thought.

"Whoever wins this will be immune from their tribe's council, and then that person will give Immunity to someone on the opposing tribe for their council." SSBFreak said. "Remember that these questions will be multiple-choice, so you don't have to worry about that. If you'll all come over here and grab your tablets, we can begin."

**(Later…)**

The fourteen remaining players stood in lines, everyone holding a tablet and chalk. They seemed to be ready for the challenge.

"Okay. For Immunity, here's the first question…" SSBFreak said.

"…In season two, who was eliminated third?" SSBFreak asked. "A: Lynn, B: Urtha, C: Vikki."

Everyone wrote a letter on their tablet and showed them. While it was clear that the majority had picked A, there were a couple of B's and a C showing.

"The correct answer is Lynn. Urtha went second and Vikki went fourth." SSBFreak explained. "Corey, Mongo and Gary are out."

"That was kind of cheap." Mongo muttered as she walked off the field.

"Here's the next question. True or false: In season one, Reginald was eliminated before Jonathan."

The remaining eleven players wrote their answers down and showed them to the host. Once again, there was a clear majority.

"The answer is true. Kendall, Chloe and Brock are out."

"I knew I shouldn't have second-guessed myself." Brock sighed as he walked off.

"Here's the next question. In season two, who hit their head and had to be evacuated? A: Jack, B: Oiler, C: Brick."

The eight remaining players wrote their answers down and showed them. It was revealed that everyone had the same answer, a C.

"The correct answer is Brick and no one got it wrong."

"I didn't even need to think about that one." Tempo mused.

"Here's the next question: Which tribe is season three was dissolved? A: Roka, B: Malabar, C: Sa'zan."

Everyone again wrote their answers, although not as quickly as the last question. Everyone showed their answers to the host.

"The correct answer is Malabar. Kenal, Samantha and Angela are out."

"I guess the latest season still isn't set into my mind." Angela sighed. This left Amy, Riddle, Erica, Tempo and Danglars still playing.

"Here's the next question. Who was the loser of the only fire-making tiebreaker in season one? A: Zoe, B: Angie, C: Elias."

The remaining five players wrote their answers down after some thought and showed them to the host. Erica, Riddle and Tempo were holding up A's while Amy and Danglars were holding up B's.

"The answer is Zoe. Amy and Danglars are out."

"Man. I had to think way back for that." Danglars shook his head as he walked off.

"Here's the next question. In season three, who was Psymon's partner for the guest challenge? A: Cortez, B: Beaker, C: Ebisumaru."

None of the remaining three had to think for this one. They all wrote down their answers and showed them, revealing them to be all B's.

"Beaker is indeed the correct answer and you all got it right."

"It was funny to watch." Tempo said.

"It's time to move onto the last question. This is a numerical question." SSBFreak explained. "Without going over, how many total votes were cast in season two, not counting the decision for the winner?"

The three remaining players thought their answers for a few moments before writing down their numbers and showing them. Erica had written 103, Riddle had written 100 and Tempo had written 110.

"Very close, but someone got it right on." SSBFreak said. "That person…Is Erica."

"Alright! Yes!" Erica cheered.

"Erica wins Immunity!"

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Erica. You are safe tonight and will be giving Immunity to someone on Ferren when they vote someone out." SSBFreak said as he handed Erica an Immunity Necklace.

"Thanks. I think I was needing this, anyway." Erica admitted.

SSBFreak turned to the others. "Here's how this is going to go. Ventala will go to Tribal Council first and vote someone out. Afterwards, they will watch Ferren's Tribal Council, where Erica will give Individual Immunity to one of them." He explained. "I'll see everyone tonight for the double Tribal Council, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"_This isn't good. Erica managed to win Immunity and she's the weakest here. I was going to try lobbying to get her out, but since I can't, I'll have to focus elsewhere." Angela noted. "The next person down is Mongo, so I just need to rally some votes for her."_

"Why Mongo?" Amy asked.

"Because Erica has Immunity and I really don't think she's going to give it up." Angela shook her head.

"Yeah. I guess Mongo's the weakest one…What about Danglars, though?"

"_I know Mongo's got a bit of an attitude, but I know she's not a bad person, so I'd feel a little guilty voting her off." Amy folded her arms. "I know that she's weaker than Danglars, or at least that's what it seems, but I really don't think it would make much of a difference if we boot one or the other…"_

Meanwhile Mongo and Danglars were pacing back and forth, going in opposite directions.

"Okay…We know that they're probably gunning for me." Mongo mused. "But…There has to be some way we can turn this on them."

"We're wanting to get Angela to use the idol if she has it, right?" Danglars asked.

"Yeah…" Mongo said before she stopped pacing and looked in deep though, suddenly getting an idea. Danglars, still pacing, walked into her back and was knocked to the ground. "I think I've got it!"

"_If we confront Angela about the idol at Council, we may be able to sway the others into voting for her. However, because Angela will see this coming, she'll use her idol." Mongo said. "But…What if we voted for Amy instead and got HER out?"_

"We can get Angela to waste her idol while Amy gets eliminated." Mongo said. "Even if others vote for Angela, I'm sure I could beat Amy in a tiebreaker."

"Wow. That's…That's a pretty good idea." Danglars admitted.

"I know. Now we just need to hope that it works."

"_We have a lot riding on this. I hope that it works, because if it doesn't, Mongo will be gone and I'll have to face Angela's wrath alone." Danglars said before gulping. "I don't think I want to be on the receiving end, there."_

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_My plan just hit a damper. My original thought was to just vote out Kenal, but now there's a chance Erica can give him Immunity." Kendall muttered. "I need a backup plan, so maybe Gary and Riddle will be willing to vote off Brock if Kenal gets Immunity."_

"Man. You REALLY don't like your original tribe, do you?" Gary asked.

"I'm doing this so I can get your votes." Kendall admitted.

"Kendall, we know you're trying to protect Samantha. That much is obvious." Riddle explained. "But the big question here is why you're intent on voting out the others."

"Chloe and Brock have formed a semi-alliance and I'm sure Kenal would vote with them as well. That's a semi-alliance of three right there." Kendall explained.

"_Like I've said, I don't like Kendall. He just rubs me the wrong way. He seems intent on voting out the members of his original tribe when, by all figures, he should be aligned with them." Gary shrugged. "I personally don't get his logic, because if I was in his shoes, I'd be forming an alliance with my old tribe members the first chance I got."_

Meanwhile, Kenal was hovering in front of a log, where Brock and Chloe were sitting.

"So you think we can get Gary and Riddle to vote out Samantha?" Kenal asked.

"Like I've said, no one likes her." Chloe shrugged. "The only problem is that they tend to think strategically, or else she would have been gone long ago."

"I think we can get them thinking straight, then." Kenal said.

"_If all it takes to get some votes is to get them thinking strategically, we need to make voting Samantha out seem like a strategic move." Kenal admitted. "I mean, it shouldn't be terribly difficult is she's as disliked as Chloe says she is."_

"What if Erica gives Samantha Immunity?" Brock asked.

"Believe me, that's not going to happen. Erica hates her more than any of us." Chloe said with a smirk.

"So we have nothing to worry about in that regard." Kenal noted. "That works."

"_The thing in Survivor is that you need to expect things to happen, even the things you don't expect." Brock explained. "I mean, Erica giving Samantha Immunity is still a possibility, and if that happens, we don't really have a target."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The seven members of Ventala walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Finding a spot, everyone sat down and waited to start.

"Welcome to the first half of the double-Tribal Council, Ventala Tribe. In a moment, you'll be voting one of your own out of the game so the rest can remain." SSBFreak said as he started asking questions. "Danglars, the last time you were here, Fran-CINE got voted out. How has tribe life been since then?"

"A lot better. I guess we had grown so used to the sabotaging that we never really expected such a drastic change." Danglars admitted. "Then again, we weren't expecting that reaction out of her when we voted her out, either."

"Why the heck did you cast her if you knew she would be this bad?" Amy asked, an eyebrow raised.

SSBFreak rubbed the back of his head. "We didn't think she would take it as far as she did, to be honest." He admitted. "But speaking of which, what was your reaction to that, Amy?"

"She tried to attack Angela! It seemed that the only one not shocked was Angela herself!" Amy said. "But…You wouldn't have kicked Angela out if she tried to defend herself, would you?"

"Not in that case, no."

"That's a relief. That would have just been unfair."

"Erica, you won the Individual Immunity. Did you need it?"

"I think so. I'm the weakest here, so getting Immunity will help me stick around." Erica nodded. "Plus, there are a lot of strong people on the tribe, so this is probably the best thing that could have happened to me."

Angela folded her arms and SSBFreak noticed. "I take it you're agreeing with her, Angela?" He asked.

"Yes. She was the intended target and would likely be voted out if she didn't have that necklace." Angela admitted. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Mongo, where do you sit in all of this?"

"It's obvious that I'm the next target since Erica's immune. However, there's an ace up my sleeve that I have yet to show." Mongo said with a smirk.

"And what's that?"

"Angela has the Immunity Idol from Exile." Mongo said. "I intend to make her use it tonight."

Angela's eyes widened. "Are you seriously voting for me?" She asked. "I'm your strongest player!"

"But if you use the idol, then you'll still be here." Mongo explained. "Look, it's obvious that you're a threat, Angela. The last thing I want is for you and that power alliance of yours to have the idol."

"I don't have the idol!"

"Bull."

"I don't! I didn't find anything on Exile!"

"Do you think she has the idol?" Erica asked Tempo.

"I wouldn't put it past her." Tempo replied.

"Look, let's just put that to the test. Everyone else votes for you while you vote for me. You use your idol and nullify your votes, and I'll go instead." Mongo said before looking at the host. "Can we just do this and get it over with?"

"Very well. That's all the questions I had anyway. It's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Before we do, I have to ask: Erica, are you giving up Immunity?"

"No way."

"With that, Erica cannot be voted out. Amy, you're up."

The redhead fox stood up, walked out of the hut and went over to the voting table. She looked a little worried as she wrote a name down and put the ballot into the urn.

Mongo gave a smirk and wrote a name down, showing it. "If Angela uses the idol, the vote won't be a waste." She said, having voted for Amy.

Corey scratched her head as she wrote a name down. "Ah dunno what the heck's going on. What am Ah supposed ta do?" She asked as she voted and left.

Tempo walked up to the table and showed his vote to the camera. "If you DO have the idol, it needs to go." He said, having voted for Angela.

Danglars walked up to the table and wrote a name down. "All I can say is that I hope this works." He said as he voted and left.

Erica, wearing the necklace, wrote a name down. "This is going to be a weird vote." She admitted as she left the table after voting.

Angela didn't look very pleased as she wrote a name down. "Do I risk playing the idol? It could be the fake." She said, having voted for Mongo.

After all seven players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. "It's time to-"

"Hold on."

Everyone watched as Angela stood up and pulled out the idol she found. "Mongo's right. I found this on Exile." She said as she walked up to the host.

SSBFreak inspected the idol for several painful seconds. "…This is indeed the Exile Island Immunity Idol." He announced as he pocketed the idol. "All votes cast against Angela are void."

Angela looked visibly-relieved as she returned to her seat. Mongo looked proud of herself.

"With that, it's now time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Angela. Doesn't count." Angela narrowed her eyes.

"Angela. Doesn't count." Mongo gave a smirk.

"Mongo." Mongo looked unfazed.

"Mongo. She leads with two." Danglars looked a little nervous.

"…Amy." This took Angela and Amy by surprise.

"Amy. It's now 2-2." Amy was looking really nervous now. "Final vote and seventh person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Mongo. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Mongo sighed and stood up. "Looks like someone didn't flip. I was hoping for a tiebreaker." She admitted. "Whatever. I got rid of the idol." She shrugged as she grabbed her torch and brought it to the host.

"Mongo, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Mongo's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"It's been a blast." Mongo said with a smirk as she left the hut.

Once Mongo was gone, SSBFreak looked at the remaining players. "I don't know if it was Mongo's plan to get Angela to waste the idol, but it looks like it worked. The idol will be sent back to Exile for someone to find again. Your tribe is down to six, but it will still be an even playing field." He explained. "Normally, I'd tell you to go back to camp, but we're only half-done. If you guys can go over to the jury bench, I can bring out the Ferren Tribe…"

"_Sure, I got eliminated, but I left causing a lot of drama and I got Angela to waste that idol of hers. That alone made it worth it for me." Mongo said with a smirk. "I'm bummed that I didn't make the merge, but whatever. I'll take what I get."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The seven players of Ferren walked into the hut, carrying their torches, as the Ventala Tribe moved to the jury bench. The Ferren Tribe saw who had gotten voted out as they all took a seat.

"Welcome to Tribal Council, Ferren Tribe. As you can see, Ventala voted out Mongo, and you will be voting someone out shortly as well." SSBFreak explained. "Samantha, you lost your ally last time you were here. How did you feel?"

"I was crushed. Robert was the only one I really trusted out here." Samantha said, hoping the Ventala Tribe would pity her.

"Stop trying to play the sympathy card. We all know you were leading him on." Riddle said.

"I was not! He was my friend!"

"Baloney!" Chloe said. "You only aligned with him because he was dumb enough to do whatever you told him to!"

"Chloe, what's your take on this?" SSBFreak asked.

"Samantha's a liar. She has always been a liar and will always BE a liar." Chloe folded her arms. "We've been trying to get rid of her the entire competition, but nothing's worked."

"And why do you think that is?"

"Because she keeps finding ways to get people to vote WITH her instead of FOR her."

"Kenal, you haven't been with Ferren for very long. What are your opinions on this debate?"

"I take Chloe's side. It's clear that Samantha isn't to be trusted." Kenal said. "She had Robert convinced that she was a nice person when she's clearly out to get each and every one of us."

"Why is everyone against me here?" Samantha asked aloud.

"By the way, Samantha? You're not a very good actress." Kenal retorted.

"Brock, where do you stand in all of this?"

"At the moment, it appears to be Kendall and Samantha against Chloe, Kenal and myself." Brock explained. "I don't know why Kendall's not with us, but he apparently ditched us the moment we swapped."

This seemed to take the majority of the Ventala Tribe off-guard.

"So I guess that means that Gary and Riddle are the swing votes?"

"Yeah. They'll either vote for us or against us." Brock nodded.

"Gary, what are you thinking at the moment?"

"Truthfully? Not a whole lot. I'm just hoping that we make the right choice in the vote, because either way we vote will have negative consequences." Gary replied.

"Okay. I think that's enough questions, but before we continue, we have another matter to address." SSBFreak said as he turned to the Ventala Tribe. "Erica, you need to choose someone to give Immunity to. Pick carefully."

Erica didn't bother standing up. She just grabbed her necklace. "Hey, Chloe! Catch!" She said as she tossed the necklace at Chloe, who caught it in her hands.

"Oh! Thanks!" Chloe said as she put the necklace on.

"With that, Chloe is immune and can't be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Gary, you're up."

The older man stood up and left the hut to go vote. Gary gave a sigh as he wrote a name down. He silently placed the ballot into the urn and left the table.

Chloe, wearing the necklace, walked up to the table and wrote a name down. "This hopefully will be the final nail on the coffin." She said as she walked away.

Kenal hovered over to the table and wrote a name down, showing it. "You're a liar and we need to get rid of you." He said, having voted for Samantha.

Kendall looked a little relieved as he wrote a name down. "It's a good thing Erica didn't give Immunity to Kenal." He said as he voted and walked off.

Riddle looked a little unsure as he approached the table. Nevertheless, he wrote a name down and put it into the urn. "No turning back, now." He said.

Samantha wrote a name and turned it, revealing Kenal's name. "The biggest liability here? I'd say so." She said as she voted and left the table.

Brock walked up to the table and wrote a name down. "Gary and Riddle had better come through." He said as he voted and walked away.

Once everyone had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn again and returned with it a few minutes later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. Everyone remained silent, unknowing that the idol had already been used. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Samantha." Samantha folded her arms.

"Kenal." Kenal remained silent.

"Samantha. She leads 2-1." Samantha took a couple of deep breaths.

"Samantha." Biting her lip, Samantha hoped that would be all she would get.

"Kenal. It's 3-2 for Samantha." Brock and Chloe were looking nervous.

"…Kenal." That seemed to do it for Brock and Chloe, who looked visibly upset. "Last vote and eighth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Kenal. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Kenal simply grabbed his torch and hovered over. "I suppose it was only a matter of time." He said as he went over to the host.

"Kenal, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Kenal's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Very well." Kenal said as he hovered out of the hut.

Once Kenal was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "As the dust settles from this double-boot, twelve people remain. We have officially reached the halfway-part of the competition, and I assure you that the game's not going to get any easier." He said to everyone. "At this point, you should all be thinking about the future of the game and what to do when the merge hits, because all I can say is that it's coming, and coming fast. You can all head back to camp."

The two tribes stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council, splitting up and going their separate ways. The majority of Ventala was still surprised at Kendall, who had apparently sold his old tribe out as fast as he could. Now they all needed to watch out for the lanky monkey, because there was apparently more to him than he had let on…

"_I managed to surpass my expectations out here. I was honestly expecting to be gone within the first week, but I managed to last nineteen days." Kenal said. "When you consider what I am and what the general opinion of my race is, that's pretty good. I'm satisfied with my performance and I think I did Humanized Daleks proud."_

**Voting History 1:**

**Mongo – Amy, Angela and Corey**

**Amy – Danglars and Mongo**

**Angela – Erica and Tempo (VOID)**

**Voting History 2:**

**Kenal – Gary, Kendall, Riddle and Samantha**

**Samantha – Brock, Chloe and Kenal**

Author's Notes: Mongo was fun to write for, but I knew I'd have a hard time getting her shown over some of the more-important characters. That's kind of why she wasn't as visible as I may have liked. That being said, Mongo was always meant to go here, making the other, larger alliance waste the idol but at the same time fail to gain the advantage, so I consider it a half-victory.

I know Kenal may have lasted a bit long by a logical standpoint, but this is basically the earliest he could have gone. Kenal was the only one that could confront Fran-CINE and Kendall was to eliminate Robert first so he could join Samantha. Kenal's story pretty much ended after Fran-CINE left, so he was expendable after that.


	9. Days 20 to 22

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Kendall sold us out and Kenal got voted out for it. In all honesty, we should have seen it coming." Brock sighed. "Sure, Kendall may have acted like he wanted to align with people, but something was clear that he was up to no good. I'm just sorry that it took this long to figure out. Of course, the instant we got back to camp, Chloe went straight to Gary and Riddle…"_

"Why'd you vote him out? Samantha was SO CLOSE to going!" Chloe said. "Why didn't you guys vote with us?"

"I apologize, Chloe. It's just that Kenal wouldn't have been of that much use to us." Riddle said. "I mean, he only had the one arm, couldn't go into the water and had limited mobility."

"But he lasted so long when he was on the other tribe!"

Gary scratched his head. "But…Uh…Didn't Ventala only go to Tribal Council ONCE before the swap?"

"That's not the point!"

"_While voting out Kenal may have been good to help us win challenges, I don't know if letting Samantha team up with Kendall was a good idea." Gary noted. "As Kendall proved, he's willing to backstab his old tribe-mates, and this is likely to protect Samantha, who he sees as a better ally."_

"Where ARE those two, anyway?" Gary asked as he looked around.

"They made themselves scarce pretty quickly." Riddle said. "I suppose this tells us that they don't care for any of us."

"We've known that for a while now."

Kendall and Samantha had indeed gone off to regroup, around the other side of the camp, but Brock had seen them and decided to confront them.

"Kendall, you sold us out." Brock said as he folded his arms. "Didn't the two weeks the bunch of us spent on Ventala mean anything?"

"Not a thing." Kendall handwaved it. "Believe me, I didn't really like anyone there."

"_Brock's going next, anyway. Since it's just him and me remaining from Ventala over here, I figure I can let some steam off." Kendall said. "I've had it built up for a long time and, I have to admit, it felt good to get it off my chest."_

"Look, I'm tired, so why don't you just go and bother Chloe?" Kendall asked.

Brock narrowed his eyes, but eventually decided that his time was better spent elsewhere and walked off. After Brock was gone, Samantha glared at Kendall. "You won't get anywhere if you act so smug all the time." She said.

"You're a fine one to talk." Kendall shot back. "Look, the main thing is that we both survived, so we'll take it as is."

"Whatever."

"_Believe me, I wouldn't be aligned with Kendall if I wasn't desperate. The first chance I can get, I'm dumping him." Samantha said. "He thinks he knows how to play the game, but if you ask me, I was doing fine until he showed up. HE was the one that got Robert voted out, after all."_

The remaining six players of Ferren went to bed, most knowing that they would get answers in the morning.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 20)**

"_We voted out Mongo, but she made me waste the idol I found in the process. Of course, I'm glad that the idol turned out to be the real thing." Angela said. "Of course, I wasn't expecting Amy to be a target, so I'm at least glad Corey came through for us and voted with us."_

"Thank you for voting with us, Corey." Angela said. "If you didn't, Amy may have gone home."

"Aw, no problem. Brock woulda wanted me ta stick with ya guys anyway." Corey assured.

"But the Ferren players voted against you, though." Amy noted.

"Mongo's words probably convinced them." Angela said.

"_That could have ended in a non-pleasant way. I wasn't prepared for a tiebreaker at all, and if that was what Mongo was planning, I could have gone." Amy said. "I think it's safe to assume that we all underestimated her thinking abilities."_

"_Eh, Ah voted with the girls cause they were aligned with Brock, and he woulda wanted me ta stick with them." Corey shrugged. "If anythin' it'll mean that Ah git more friends into the merge, and that's always a good thing, right?"_

"D'ya think Danglars was the one ta come up with the idea?" Corey asked, scratching her head.

"Honestly, no. Danglars doesn't seem capable of forming a plan like this together." Angela shook her head. "It had to have been Mongo."

Meanwhile, Danglars was hiding behind a large rock, trying to stay out of sight. Needless to say, he looked both terrified and flustered.

"Stay out of sight and she won't see me." Danglars told himself. "Stay out of sight and she won't see me."

"_Last night was terrible. I was honestly afraid to sleep in the shelter because I didn't want Angela to kill me in my sleep!" Danglars whimpered. "I'm hoping I can just hide in the shadows until this whole thing blows over, but she'll notice that I'm gone before too long! What do I do?"_

As Danglars continued to hide behind the rock and stare off into space, Erica and Tempo walked by, seeing him sitting on the ground and shivering with fright.

"It looks like he had an encounter with a wolverine." Tempo said. "You…Don't think there are any around, do you?"

"We're on a desert island, genius." Erica said flatly.

"Oh, yeah."

With that, the two continued walking, leaving Danglars as if they were never there in the first place.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 20)**

"Chloe, I think it's time we started thinking strategy." Brock said.

"Like what?" Chloe asked.

"_It's obvious that it's a case of 2-2-2 now that Kenal's gone and Kendall's aligned with Samantha. If Chloe and I are going to survive, we need the idol." Brock explained. "I didn't really need it on Ventala because I was aligned with strong players, but now that I'm alone, I need to start searching for it."_

"If we can find the idol, it'll give us the edge we need to pull ahead temporarily." Brock explained.

"I found it once. I think I could do it again." Chloe supplied. "We just need to win Reward."

"If we have one." Brock scratched his head.

"We haven't had one for a few days. I'd say we're due."

"_Brock and I need that idol. If we get it and figure out who the others are targeting, we can use it to get ahead." Chloe explained. "Personally, I'm a little worried because we need to win the next Reward Challenge to do that, and even though I told Brock otherwise, it's impossible to tell when we're going to have one."_

"Here's the issue, though. The idol will only save us once." Brock explained. "Say we use the idol to get rid of Kendall or Samantha. What's stopping the remaining one from joining Gary & Riddle and voting us out 3-2?"

"If we take out Samantha with the idol, I think I can convince Kendall to vote with us." Chloe said. "Maybe my cuteness can persuade him to vote with us."

Brock stared flatly. "Yeah…Sure." He said.

"_Honestly, Chloe's like a revolving door of personalities. One moment she's a good ally and is able to come up with helpful ideas, and the other she's…Obsessed with her cuteness." Brock said. "I have no idea which is the real one, and it worries me that my game could be resting with someone like that."_

"_I mean, it's obvious that I'm cute, and if I can tempt Kendall with it, then he's sure to vote with us." Chloe said. "My cuteness made me fast friends with Anke and Tempo, and even Brock joined forces with me shortly after he showed up. I think I can get similar results with Kendall."_

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"You guys were the ones to vote for Angela?" Amy asked.

Tempo sighed. "Mongo made a convincing argument and we didn't really have time to think it over." He explained. "We didn't realize that the real plan was to gun for you and make Angela waste the idol."

"_I decided to man up and give my reasons for voting for Angela. Amy seemed to understand, so maybe Angela will as well." Tempo explained. "I want to remain on their good side, and I don't think my actions last night really helped me any."_

"_I can tell that Tempo's honest when he says that he wasn't expecting the vote to go the way it did." Amy said. "Angela even seems to be taking it not too bad, but that may be because Mongo was voted out anyway."_

"Can you just…Uh…Tell Angela that I'm sorry and that the whole vote literally came up at Tribal Council?" Tempo asked.

"Sure. Don't worry." Amy nodded.

Tempo thanked Amy and walked off, passing Erica, who was sitting on a rock.

"You're pathetic." Erica said, making Tempo stop.

"Wait. What?" Tempo asked.

"You're kissing up to Angela's alliance. So what if the vote went the way it did?" Erica asked.

"I'd rather NOT be on the receiving end of Angela's wrath, thank you."

"_Seriously, Tempo's being completely paranoid. Is he seriously thinking Angela would kill him over something as stupid as a vote that didn't even go the way it was planned?" Erica asked. "Honestly, I'm not worried about that. What I AM worried about is that Angela will likely be targeting me anyway."_

"I'm just trying to keep my options open." Tempo said.

"…And the fact that Angela is a pretty woman doesn't have anything to do with it?" Erica asked, forming a slight smirk.

Tempo coughed nervously. "Maybe." He admitted.

"Thought so."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"He's not as strong as he'd like you to think. I'll say that." Kendall said.

"Kendall, seriously. I'm finding the fact that you're willing to sell out your original tribe-mates to be disturbing." Gary folded his arms.

"I've already said that I don't like any of them."

"_I think some of us are starting to trust Kendall less than Samantha. He was quick to vote out Kenal, which was fine with us, but the fact that he's targeting Brock now doesn't sit well with me." Gary noted. "He probably thinks he's in charge here, but I think everyone else, even Samantha, would beg to differ on that."_

After talking with Gary, Kendall went back over to Samantha. Needless to say, she didn't look very pleased.

"What do you think you're doing?" Samantha demanded.

"I'm getting us more votes. It may not look like it now, but they'll vote with us." Kendall said.

"No, they won't! Even from all the way over here I could tell that they don't trust you!" Samantha reprimanded. "You obviously think you have everyone wrapped around your fingers, but you really don't have any idea of what's going on!"

"Calm down. This is the best plan we can do."

"Like heck it is. You haven't even talked to me about what you're planning!"

"Because I know anything you come up with won't be worth listening to."

"_I am REALLY regretting aligning with Kendall right now. Something tells me I'd be better off if I made a concrete alliance with some of the others." Samantha said. "I hate to say it, but now I'm starting to understand how everyone felt with me. Perhaps it's time I changed my strategy…"_

"_She talks tough, but Samantha needs me and she knows it. There's nothing she can do." Kendall said with a smirk. "All I need to do is plant ideas into the heads of the others and we'll be golden."_

Night eventually rolled in. Knowing that there would be a challenge tomorrow, everyone went to bed to prepare for it.

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 21)**

"Tempo hasn't come to you yet, has he?" Amy asked.

"No, but I imagine he'll come forth before too long." Angela shook her head. "From what you were saying, he sounded sincere. Unfortunately for him, I'm someone who needs to hear it for herself."

"What about Danglars?"

"I haven't seen him at all since Tribal Council." Angela scratched her head.

"_Danglars and Tempo haven't really been showing themselves in a bit, but at least Tempo was able to talk to Amy." Angela said. "I honestly don't know what happened to Danglars. I'm almost half-convinced that he fled the tribe in the middle of the night."_

"I mean, you don't blame him for the vote, do you?" Amy asked.

"Like I said, I'm convinced Mongo was the mastermind." Angela shrugged. "Danglars is able to keep up well enough, so I'd be willing to give him a second chance."

Suddenly, Amy's ears perked up. "Hold up, Angela. You hear something?" She asked.

Angela focused her hearing and suddenly heard what sounded like snoring. Glancing up at the tree she and Amy were standing under, Angela gave the trunk a hard kick. Danglars fell from within the tree and landed flat on his face. A few seconds later and more snoring was heard.

_Danglars smacked his lips a couple of times. "Man. I wake up from a nice nap and find myself face-down in the sand. You wouldn't believe how dry my lips are right now." He admitted. "I must have fallen out of the tree…"_

"We have treemail." Erica announced as she came into camp with a letter. She waited until everyone was gathered around (except Danglars, who was still asleep in the sand) before reading it. "It's wondering if we can hold something."

"Seriously? That's all it says?" Angela asked.

"Uh…Yep." Erica said flatly. "Are these things getting more vague or something?"

"I didn't think that was possible." Amy scratched her head.

"_My guess is that whoever's in charge wants to keep us guessing. A treemail this vague doesn't come along every day." Erica said. "At least with other treemails, we can make a good guess as to what they are, but not here…"_

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 21)**

Gary and Riddle sat on a log near the shore of the small lake. Surprisingly, neither of them appeared to be in a talkative mood.

The silence was eventually broken. "So where exactly do we stand on this, Riddle?" Gary asked. "Which side of the argument are we leaning towards?"

"Why don't you tell me what you think, Gary?" Riddle asked.

Gary sighed. "Riddle, if it were up to me, we probably would have gotten rid of Samantha ages ago, and I'm really not comfortable with Kendall." He admitted. "I know it's logically best to keep them around, but I have to say that I'm not really liking it."

"Truth be told, neither am I." Riddle said. "Honestly, what's got me sticking to this is that it's the best method of gameplay for us in the long run."

"_The big problem with Survivor is that the big moves that one was to play could be used against them at the end." Riddle explained. "Keeping Samantha around as long as we have may seem good from a strategic perspective, but such moves could be used as ammunition for a jury."_

"So what's the next phase of action?" Gary asked. "I've heard the others talking about trying to find the idol."

Riddle paused. "Then…Perhaps we should find it first." He said with a smirk.

"_I don't like it when Riddle smirks. I can just tell he's thinking something evil." Gary sighed._

"Hey, guys! We've got treemail!" Brock said as he walked into camp.

"I hope it's a Reward Challenge." Chloe crossed her fingers. "What's it say?"

"It's wondering how well we can hold something." Brock replied.

Samantha sighed. "Just when I thought those stupid things couldn't get any MORE vague." She said.

"Well, we don't have time to worry about it, now." Brock said. "We may as well head out."

"_I'm hoping that this is Reward. Chloe and I need to find the idol. That's one biggest shot at getting the edge." Brock explained. "Here's the problem. We know that Samantha is probably going to want the idol as well. We need to have the quicker draw."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The two tribes emerged from the jungle and walked over to their mats. Since they were all present at Tribal Council, they didn't look surprised when they saw who was eliminated.

"Welcome to your next Reward Challenge, everyone. Here, we will test the endurance of your arms." SSBFreak said. There wasn't anything set up, but everyone saw a large amount of clay cups in a pile. "You will all be using one arm to balance clay cups on a plate, balancing them on the back of your hand. Every so often, I will start stacking clay cups, adding one at a time. In addition, you will all start with three. If your stack of cups collapses, you're out, and the person left standing at the end will win Reward for their tribe, which is two large bags of rice."

Overall, the contestants looked relatively indifferent to the prize, but knew that they had to win it regardless.

"If you'll all come over here, we can begin." SSBFreak said.

The twelve contestants walked over and spread out. They were each given a plate, which they balanced on the backs of their hands, as three clay cups were stacked onto each of them.

"The challenge is officially underway." SSBFreak said. "Gary, how do you think you'll fare in challenges like this?"

"I don't know, actually. There's a big difference between strength and balance." Gary responded.

"Corey, do you think you'll do well?"

"Ah think Ah've got a shot." Corey admitted.

SSBFreak looked around at everyone, seeing that they were managing to hold up relatively easily. "I'll check back in with you guys in a bit." He explained.

Time went on and no one dropped out. Not a lot of time went by, but it quickly started feeling like an eternity for the contestants. Still, everyone was able to balance their cups easily, although they knew it would only get worse.

"You've all managed to hold up your stacks for roughly a minute and a half, which is actually pretty good." SSBFreak said. "Danglars, how are you feeling?"

"My arm's already asleep." Danglars said flatly.

"Kendall, do you think you can manage in a challenge like this?"

"I may be good at climbing, but balancing something like this is new to me." Kendall shook his head. "I'm honestly not used to this."

"Angela, what's your strategy here?"

"Just to clear my head." Angela said, as calm as possible.

"Before I leave you guys to it, we're going to add one cup to each of your stacks." SSBFreak explained.

A fourth cup was added to each player's stack. Kendall's arm wavered for a moment before the tower tipped and dropped the cups on the ground.

"Kendall is now out." SSBFreak announced.

"I knew I wouldn't be in for long." Kendall sighed as he walked over to the host.

Chloe sniffed. "My nose is starting to itch." She said.

"Don't touch your nose." Brock hissed. "You'll drop your stack."

"If I sneeze, then I'll drop it, anyway."

"Hold it in."

The remaining players held up their stacks for as long as they could, although it became obvious that some were starting to struggle. This became clear when Amy's stack toppled over. Erica, standing beside her, was taken off guard and accidentally dropped her stack as well.

"Amy and Erica are both out. It's now 4-5 for Ferren." SSBFreak announced.

Samantha's stack wobbled. The button-eyed woman tried to hold it steady, but lost in the end and let the stack topple over. Samantha cursed her luck.

"Samantha drops out. It's 4-4."

"It's been five minutes now and the rest of you are still holding strong." SSBFreak said. "Tempo, I'm noticing that you're wavering a little. You starting to lose your balance?"

"Can't talk now! Kinda busy!" Tempo said as he struggled to move his hand around to keep the stack of cups balanced on his hand.

"Riddle, do you see this as anyone's game?"

"If I simply said yes, would you kindly stop bothering us?" Riddle asked.

"Sorry, but it's in my job description to ask you guys pointless questions during challenges." SSBFreak said with a shrug. "Gives me something to do. Oh yeah, time to add a fifth cup to your stacks."

Another cup was added to each stack. This quickly proved to be too much for Tempo, as he stack promptly fell over.

"Tempo is out."

Chloe sniffed again. "I can't hold it in. I gotta sneeze." She said before letting out a sneeze and causing her to drop her stack. At the same time, Gary's stack dropped over as well.

"Chloe and Gary are both out. This makes it 3-2 for Ventala."

On Ventala, Angela seemed determined, Corey seemed casual and it was clear that Danglars had lost all feeling in his arm, judging by the fact that he was struggling to keep it level. On Ferren, Riddle and Brock both seemed relaxed, but were starting to falter with the increasing stacks.

"The rest of you have been in the challenge for seven minutes now and I'm starting to see some people about to give in." SSBFreak said. "Since I know you guys don't like me asking questions in challenges like this, how about we just add the next cup to each stack?"

The remaining five people were now balancing six cups. Needless to say, Danglars couldn't handle the challenge any more and dropped his arm, toppling his tower. At the same time, Angela's tower wavered wildly before it too succumbed to gravity.

"Danglars and Angela are both out. It's down to Corey going against Riddle and Brock."

"Ah can do this." Corey assured. "All Ah gotta do is hold up mah stack longer than them."

"Still anyone's game." Brock muttered as he started struggling to hold up the cups in his hand.

The three remaining players continued to balance, although it was clear that they were all starting to struggle. After what seemed like an eternity, two people suddenly dropped their arms and the stacks they were holding up.

Corey dropped her arm first. Brock also dropped, but because Corey had also done it, it hardly mattered.

"Corey is out! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ferren wins Reward!"

"That's a relief." Riddle said as he dropped his arm. "I was seriously getting tired."

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Ferren. These two big bags of rice are now yours." SSBFreak said.

Riddle nodded as Gary picked up the rice. "Thank you, and if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to go to Exile." He said. This caught the majority of his tribe by surprise.

"Very well. Riddle is going to Exile and will meet up with everyone at tomorrow's Immunity Challenge." SSBFreak said. "Ventala, I'm afraid I have nothing for you. You can all head back to camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"How did Riddle say that he wanted to go to Exile so fast?" Chloe asked.

"Because he asked before he was asked, which was what we were waiting for." Brock sighed.

"_Riddle pulled a fast one and opted to go to Exile. He must have found out that Chloe and I were wanting the idol." Brock folded his arms. "This also tells us that Kendall and Samantha are wanting the idol as well or else Riddle wouldn't have made the attempt to go at all."_

"He doesn't NEED the idol, though." Chloe said. "We were targeting Kendall and Samantha!"

"I know. The only reason I can think of is that the others want the idol as well and Riddle went to keep it out of everyone's hands." Brock replied.

"Man. That sucks."

"_Brock and I need that idol, but Riddle decided to go and get it for himself. That is SO unfair!" Chloe pouted. "Now it's going to be even harder to survive out here! Maybe…Maybe I can convince Riddle to give me the idol if he finds it…"_

Meanwhile, Samantha and Kendall were having a similar conversation across camp.

"I have to admit that was smart." Samantha noted.

"How was that smart? He ruined our chance at getting the idol." Kendall retorted.

"Exactly. He must have known we were looking for the idol." Samantha said. "That's why he jumped at the chance to go to Exile."

"…He may not even LOOK for the idol!"

"_I never thought Riddle could be such a sneak. I hate to say it, but I'm impressed. That's exactly what I would have done." Samantha said. "However, since I'm not in power and he shot my chances at getting the idol, it just makes me hate him even more."_

"Perhaps we're thinking through this wrong. We're wasting time moping about what could have happened." Kendall said.

"I know. We need to at least talk to Gary."

"_If we're going to convince Gary to vote out Brock, we need to make sure he sees our reasoning." Kendall said. "He'll likely be getting tired of hearing the same pitch, but it's either us or them at this point."_

Meanwhile again, Gary was sitting by himself on a rock, coincidentally right in the middle of the two plotting alliances. He was casually humming a song, as if he didn't know anyone was there.

"This is actually the most-quiet it's been since we started." Gary mused as he sat back. "This is nice…"

**(Ventala Tribe)**

"Golly, that sure was close!" Corey laughed. "Ah mean, mah arm's still half-asleep after all that!"

"You're pretty optimistic considering we just lost the challenge." Erica said flatly.

"You get used to it." Amy shrugged. "She tends to be like this after every loss."

"_So we lost the challenge. It wasn't as bad of a loss considering it was Reward, and it was pretty close to begin with." Amy pointed out. "Still, we were hoping we would win, because we could have used that rice…"_

"_Ya gotta have strong arms where Ah come from. Ah must carry a ton of food fer the animals a week!" Corey said. "Still, did ya see how close that was? Ah'm actually surprised a couple a people were able ta beat me!"_

"Where'd Danglars go?" Tempo asked. "He was with us when we came back to camp."

"I'll go find him. I think I know where he is." Angela said as she walked off.

"Is he still worried about how the vote went?" Amy asked aloud. "That was…Two days ago."

"He's seriously been hiding for two days?" Erica asked, an eyebrow lifted. "From what?"

"Angela, apparently."

"_Danglars may be a little strong, but he's a pansy. What's he got to be afraid of around here? Angela's not THAT scary, is she?" Erica asked. "Sure, she's tough, but she's not going to KILL him out here!"_

Angela looked up at the tree she had kicked before the challenge. "I know you're up there, Danglars." She said.

Slowly, Danglars' head poked down from the branches of the tree. "Um…" He said.

"I know why you're hiding up there." Angela pointed out. "Now then, was the idea to make me waste the idol Mongo's idea?"

"Uh…Yes…"

"Then you don't have to worry about it. This time." Angela said. "Now get down from there."

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Danglars said as he climbed down from the tree.

"_I'm relieved that Angela isn't wanting to kill me, and her blaming Mongo is probably the best thing for me right now." Danglars said. "If she found out that I was the one to accidentally give Mongo the idea for the plan, Angela may not be so forgiving next time."_

**(Exile Island)**

"Hmm…Exile Island. A maze of islands containing the riddle of the Hidden Immunity Idol." Riddle said as he wandered over to the treemail box.

However, when Riddle opened the box, he found two notes inside. He almost did a double-take. "What in the world? Two clues?" He asked aloud.

"_I certainly wasn't expecting there to be two clues in the box. That also seems suspicious. The clues appeared to be going in different directions." Riddle pointed out. "The host said that there was only one idol out here, so that tells me that there's been a fake one planted."_

"These clues look exactly the same…" Riddle noted as he inspected the notes. "Which one leads to the real thing?"

Riddle wandered around Exile, following both clues in an attempt to see what he could dig up. After following one of the clues around for a while and not being able to come up with anything, Riddle examined the second clue.

Looking around, Riddle found himself walking towards the shore of the main part of Exile Island. Walking through the shallow water, Riddle ended up walking towards a tiny island with a tree on it.

"According to the clue, this must be the spot." Riddle said as he started digging.

After what seemed like an eternity, Riddle finally managed to dig up something. Holding it up, it was a necklace. "I found it." He said with satisfaction.

"_I managed to find an idol, and I hope it's the real one. I unfortunately couldn't get a good glimpse of the one Chloe used to eliminated Tomato so I don't know if this is the real one or not." Riddle explained. "All I can do for now is hope that I'm not targeted until I can determine if this is the real thing."_

His job done, Riddle found himself sitting under the small shelter than had been provided, in deep thought. "Now then…Who could have been the one to create a fake idol?" He asked himself. "…Who all has been here since we started?"

Night eventually rolled in. Knowing that there would be an Immunity Challenge tomorrow, everyone decided to get to bed and rest up.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 22)**

"_The two alliances have been trying to gain my vote ever since I woke up. This is seriously nothing like the quietness of yesterday." Gary scratched his head. "Honestly, I'm just trying to block everything out at this point and then ask Riddle about it when he comes back."_

"Just keep it in mind, Gary. We need to take out Kendall and Samantha before they get too much in power." Brock said.

"Mm-hmm." Gary nodded, not really paying attention.

"I mean, I hope I don't have to tell you how dangerous it would be to let them stay, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"It's just that Chloe and I need your vote. Please give it some thought." Brock said, half-pleading.

"_If there's one thing I can say about Gary, it's that he's a great listener. He let me give my two cents and didn't outright refuse the offer." Brock explained. "I honestly think that's all I can do for the moment. I just need to let him talk to Riddle and go from there."_

"What did he say?" Chloe asked as Brock came over.

"He didn't give me an answer, but he let me talk and appeared to be listening." Brock said. "It's seriously like talking to a brick wall."

"Which is pretty weird for him. Usually he's pretty good to talk with." Chloe pointed out.

"Maybe he's not as used to talking strategy because he lets Riddle do that." Brock suggested.

"_When we started, Gary was a great guy to talk to even though he was on another alliance. Today it's hard to get any sort of response out of him." Chloe said. "I personally think that's the plan and he doesn't really want to be bothered with problems."_

"Looks like we've got some treemail." Kendall said as he walked into camp. The others approached him. "It's wondering how strong we are individually and as a team."

"Didn't we have a treemail that asked a question like that?" Samantha asked.

"Probably. I honestly don't remember anymore." Gary shrugged.

"_We need this win. We have a feeling the merge is coming up and the last thing we want is to be at a disadvantage." Samantha folded her arms. "We know that the other team will be giving it their all, because I'm sure they're all thinking about the merge at this point."_

**(Ventala Tribe; Day 22)**

"…_Ya know what Ah've suddenly got a cravin' fer? Ma's apple pie. Boy, it sure don't get better than that." Corey said. "If there's one thing Ah miss almost as much as mah family, it's Ma's pie. She's one heck of a cook, ya know? She's got fifteen blue ribbons and is a decorated firefighter fer helping put out a competitor's entry that suddenly…Uh…What's the word…Spontaneously combusted! That's it!"_

"When's Corey going to be done with the cameraman?" Erica asked as she walked over to a group of players sitting on a log. "I need to do a confessional."

"Why do you think we're all sitting in a line?" Amy asked. "The back of the line's that way, by the way."

"How long have you guys been waiting?" Erica asked as she went to the end of the line and sat down.

"About ten minutes. She should be almost done by now." Danglars noted.

"She's never taken this long, though." Amy added.

"_Man. I never thought someone could take so long to do a confessional. Corey must have had a lot to say." Amy, the next in line, said. "Normally, I'd wonder if she was talking about some big plan that she had, but then I remember that it's Corey."_

_Danglars sat in front of the camera for a few seconds. "…Great. I forgot why I wanted to do a confessional in the first place." He sighed as he stood up and walked off._

After doing a confessional, Danglars walked over to the treemail box and pulled out a letter. "Time for the challenge, I guess." Danglars said as he returned to camp. "Treemail's here, guys!"

"Time fer the Immunity Challenge, eh?" Corey asked.

"It's wondering how strong we are individually and as a team." Danglars replied before pausing. "That…Sounds kinda familiar."

"Because we've had a similar-sounding treemail before." Angela folded her arms.

"Still, they wouldn't have the challenge be similar, right? I mean, it's just the treemail." Tempo shrugged.

"_We're next expecting the challenge to be similar, but you really can't expect anything out here. There really aren't many challenges where strength could be used." Tempo said. "I mean, there are endurance challenges and challenges where you have to push or pull something, but not much other than that."_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The two tribes emerged from the jungle in opposite directions and walked over to their mats. The twelve remaining players stepped onto their mats and waited for the challenge to start.

"Before we begin, let's bring out Riddle, who is returning from Exile Island." SSBFreak said. Riddle walked in from the side and joined his tribe again so the challenge could officially start.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, everyone. Here, we will be testing everyone's strength." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw that he was standing near the shore of a beach. "Everyone except one person on each team will be out in the water, holding onto a piece of rope each. The team member on shore will need to pull their teammates in from the water one at a time, and once someone is on shore, they can join in pulling the others. More than one person can pull on the same piece of rope, but remember that it will use up more time. Once everyone is back on shore, the team can come back over to their mat. The first team that has every member on their mat will win Immunity and be safe from tonight's Tribal Council."

**(Later…)**

Tempo and Gary stood on the shore as everyone else was out in the water, each holding onto one of the lines. Both of the contestants on shore looked ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready...Go!"

Tempo and Gary instantly grabbed a line and started pulling, not really noticing who they were pulling in. It became clear that Tempo was pulling in Erica and Gary was pulling in Riddle. Even though Gary was far-stronger than Tempo, Tempo was pulling Erica in faster because she was so light.

"Don't waste your energy, Gary." Riddle instructed as he was being pulled to shore.

"I know." Gary nodded as he continued to pull at the line.

Tempo started to increase his lead, but he wasn't really paying attention to how well Gary was doing and was solely focused on getting Erica to shore.

"Tempo, we're getting a lead! Pull me to shore and I'll help you with the next!" Erica called out.

The two men continued to pull their teammates to shore, Tempo managing to build on his lead. By the time Tempo pulled Erica ashore, Gary was only two-thirds done pulling Riddle to shore.

"Erica is on the shore and can now help Tempo pull the others." SSBFreak announced.

"Let's get Angela next." Erica suggested as she grabbed the line Angela was holding onto. Tempo nodded and did the same as the two pulled together.

"Come on! We've got a lead and we don't want to lose it!" Angela said as Tempo and Erica started pulling her towards them.

"Gary, will you hurry up? They're leaving us in the dust!" Samantha barked.

The two teams continued to race. Gary managed to get Riddle to shore without wasting too much energy. At this point, Tempo and Erica had only pulled Angela one-third of the way to the shore.

"Riddle is one the shore and the teams and neck-and-neck." SSBFreak announced.

"Split the work, Gary. You pull someone and I'll pull someone else." Riddle instructed.

"Sure thing." Gary nodded as he grabbed the line Samantha was holding. At the same time, Riddle started pulling Kendall to shore.

Erica saw what the Ferren Tribe was doing and her eyes widened. "We need to pick up the pace, Tempo. They're splitting the work." She said.

"We'll catch up. Once we get Angela to the shore, we'll split up." Tempo assured.

Nevertheless, Tempo and Erica pulled on the line harder and faster in an attempt to get Angela to shore faster. While they were doing this, Gary and Riddle were slowly managing to pull Samantha and Kendall to shore.

Tempo and Erica proved to be pulling faster, as Angela continued to put more distance between her and the people Ferren was pulling. Angela started thinking as she was getting pulled in, as if wondering who should be pulled in next.

"Gary, come on! You're supposed to be the strongest on the team!" Samantha said.

"I'm trying to conserve energy until the end." Gary replied.

"It won't do you any good if we're too far behind! Now pull harder!"

Gary sighed. "Okay." He gave in and started hauling Samantha in faster.

The two teams continued to pull their teammates towards the shore. Tempo and Erica managed to increase their lead and got Angela to shore while Samantha and Kendall were still a good ways out in the water.

"Angela is now on the shore. Ventala regains their lead."

"You two pull Amy in. I'll focus on Corey." Angela directed.

"What about Danglars? Wouldn't he be easier to pull in?" Erica asked.

"We'll save him for last."

Tempo and Erica decided to go along with it and grabbed the rope Amy was holding onto. Angela grabbed Corey's line and started pulling on it harder and faster than Gary was doing.

"Woo-hoo! Any faster an' Ah'd be water-skiing!" Corey cheered as Angela pulled her towards the shore. Corey had sailed past Amy in seconds and was rapidly gaining on Kendall, who by now was about halfway to the shore.

Kendall looked over into the Ventala side of the beach and his eyes widened when he saw Corey sailing closer to him. "How is one woman pulling someone that fast?" He asked himself.

"Guys, you may want to pick up the pace!" Amy called out to Tempo and Erica. "We don't want to lose our lead!"

Gary continued to pull Samantha to shore, getting her closer. Although Angela had managed to pull Corey close enough to overtake Kendall, she couldn't catch Gary and Samantha was pulled onto the shore.

"Samantha is on the shore and the score is tied again."

"You and I focus on pulling in someone. Let's pull in Chloe." Samantha instructed as she got up.

Erica was starting to strain as she and Tempo pulled Amy towards the shore. It was clear that she was starting to lose energy. Angela saw this and continued to haul Corey to shore, managing to pull the cowgirl onto the beach in record time.

"Corey is on the shore. Ventala again regains their lead."

"Whaddya want me ta do?" Corey asked as she got up.

"You help the others pull Amy to shore." Angela said. "That haul took a bit of energy out of me, so I'll rest up until you guys get her to shore."

"Got it." Corey said as she rushed over to help Tempo and Erica.

With the fresh Corey's stamina added, Amy was pulled in faster, starting to catch up on Kendall but would never have the time to overtake him.

Riddle continued to pull on Kendall, looking a little confused. "How is it so hard to pull someone so light to shore?" He asked himself.

Nevertheless, Riddle managed to get Kendall onto the shore. The monkey stood up and shook the water out of his fur.

"Kendall is on the shore and the score is tied again."

"Gary and Samantha are pulling Chloe in, so I suppose we should focus on Brock." Riddle supplied.

"I know. Come on." Kendall said.

Amy was pulled to shore much faster now that Corey was giving a hand, and a short time later was pulled onto the shore. Amy quickly got up.

"Amy is on the shore. Ventala only needs one more person."

Angela nodded. "Okay. Everyone get ready to pull Danglars in." She instructed.

The five Ventala players stood in a line, holding onto the rope Danglars was in turn holding onto.

"Hold on tight, Danglars!" Amy instructed.

"What? Why?" Danglars asked.

Everyone on Ventala pulled as hard as they could, yanking Danglars a good portion of the way to shore in one pull. He had quickly overtaken Brock by this point.

"Again!" Angela directed.

Everyone pulled hard again. Danglars screamed as he was rocketed towards the shore, this time overtaking Chloe.

"They're beating us, guys! Step on it!" Samantha ordered.

But the orders were to no avail. After only a couple more pulls, Ventala just needed to pull one more time to get Danglars to shore. They yanked on the line as hard as they could and Danglars was sent forward so far that he was dragged up the beach for a few yards. Danglars got on his hands and knees and spat out a mouthful of sand he had scooped up.

"Come on! Back to the mat!" Erica said.

Without bothering to wait for Danglars to recover, Amy picked him up and held him over her head as the Ventala Tribe ran back to the mat. By the time Chloe had been pulled onto the shore, the Ventala Tribe had already reached their mat and had dropped Danglars onto it.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Ventala wins Immunity!"

The Ventala Tribe cheered in victory (save Danglars, who was still collapsed on the mat) as the Ferren Tribe cursed their luck.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Ventala Tribe. You're all safe for at least a few more days out here." SSBFreak said before turning to the losing tribe. "Ferren, I'll be seeing you guys again at Tribal Council tonight, where you will vote another one of your own out of the game. I'll give you the rest of the day to decide who you think is best to get rid of and you'll meet me at council. You can all head back to camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Man. Why are we losing so much? Before the swap, I only went to Tribal Council ONCE. This will be my third time since I switched tribes." Brock sighed. "Well, Chloe and I have been trying to get Gary and Riddle on our side for a while, so all we can do is hope that they'll vote with us."_

"You think they'll keep us?" Chloe asked.

"We pitched the idea to Gary several times while Riddle was on Exile Island. I think we've done all we can." Brock replied.

"Man. This is so nerve-wracking. Those two are probably feeling so comfortable now because none of us are targeting them."

"I know."

"_You'd think that Brock and I would join forces with Kendall and Samantha to vote out someone on Riddle's alliance, but we don't trust each other." Chloe said. "This sucks because if we actually LIKED the other alliance, we'd probably be able to form some kind of temporary alliance or something, but that's not going to happen."_

Meanwhile, Riddle was sitting on a rock while Gary was relaying to him what everyone else was talking to him about.

"…Basically, the vote's between Kendall and Brock. Both alliances came to me so many times yesterday that I stopped paying attention whenever someone started talking." Gary said.

"Hmm…Brock is stronger, but Kendall appears to be smarter." Riddle explained. "We have to make sure that we make the right choice."

"Then how about I help you make a choice?"

Gary and Riddle turned and saw Samantha coming over, looking a little mad.

"You going to try a last-minute pitch to vote out Brock?" Riddle asked.

"No. That's what Kendall wants, but it's not what I want. He hasn't been giving me a say since he dragged me into this alliance and I want to show him that he's not holding all of the cards." Samantha said.

This seemed to thrown Gary and Riddle for a loop. "Really?" Gary asked.

"Look, I'm not fond of Kendall and I know you guys aren't either." Samantha said. "So how about we go behind his back and show him that he's not in charge?"

Riddle appeared to be in thought. "The idea's tempting. What were you thinking of?"

"_Samantha coming to us certainly helped us make a decision. Do we trust her? Not exactly, but we're confident she was telling the truth in this case." Gary shrugged. "I mean, she can't afford to cause a tie, so what would she have to gain by lying in this case?"_

"_Time to show that monkey that he has no control over me." Samantha said. "If you think I came here to be ordered around by a mangy monkey, then think again."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The six members of Ferren entered Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Seeing the dwindling number of stumps, everyone sat down and waited for the council to commence.

"Welcome to Tribal Council again, Ferren Tribe. You've been here several times before, so you should know what's going to happen. One of you is about to be voted out of the game." SSBFreak said before starting to ask questions. "Kendall, this is the third time this tribe's been here since the swap and the sixth time overall. What do you think the problem is?"

"I think that the team got stuck with some not-so-good players when we started, and that's why they got voted out first." Kendall replied. "As for why we keep losing now, I suspect a lack of teamwork."

"Why would you expect teamwork? You're the one stabbing everyone in the back." Brock muttered.

"I heard that, you know."

"Kendall, what you did last time showed that you don't value any of us." Brock said. "Why the heck should we trust you?"

"Talk all you want, Brock. It's going to fall on deaf ears." Riddle sighed.

"Chloe, the last time you were here, Kenal was voted out. What do you think happened?" SSBFreak asked.

"What else? Kendall sold us out. Brock and Kenal thought Kendall would be on their side, but hey, he's not." Chloe said.

"It's a game of survival. You have to expect these things." Kendall replied casually.

"Will you stop trying to get the last word?" Chloe demanded. "You're making it seem like you're the victim here when you're the one that did all the backstabbing!"

"Gary, is this what's been happening at camp all the time?" SSBFreak asked.

"Yeah. You get used to it." Gary shrugged. "I mean, both alliances came to me a number of times while Riddle was on Exile, and it was always about the same thing. If I didn't have the level of patience I do, I probably would have said something."

Brock blinked. "Then…Why didn't you?" He asked.

"Like I said, I'm a patient guy."

"That brings up another question. How was Exile Island, Riddle?" SSBFreak asked.

"Pretty uneventful, really. I couldn't find the idol and I must have spent hours searching." Riddle shook his head. "Some of those clues are near-impossible to solve, you know."

"And yet I was able to find the idol on my first visit there." Chloe said with a smirk.

"I consider that a fluke." Riddle said.

"So nothing really happened out there?" SSBFreak asked.

"No. It's fairly boring out on the island." Riddle replied.

"Brock, who are the targets tonight?"

"Kendall and myself. Kendall's been pitching the idea to get me out, likely so he can cut all ties with his old tribe." Brock said. "Meanwhile, Chloe and I are targeting him to take him down a couple of pegs."

"Where do Gary and Riddle sit on this?"

"We don't know. Like Gary said, we've been pitching ideas to them since our last visit here."

"Samantha, how will the vote go?" SSBFreak asked.

"All I can say is that you shouldn't expect anything." Samantha replied, arms folded. "Let's leave it at that."

"Well, I think that's enough questions. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Samantha, you're up."

Samantha got up and walked out of the hut to go vote. She gave a smirk and scribbled a name down before placing it into the urn and leaving.

Gary walked up to the table and wrote a name down. He looked at his ballot for a few seconds before placing it into the urn and walking away.

Brock wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You think you're in charge here, but you're not." He said, having voted for Kendall.

Riddle approached the table, casually writing a name down. His job done, the alien left the table without a second thought.

Chloe grabbed the pen and scribbled a name down onto a note. The panda girl quickly folded up the ballot and shoved it into the jar before walking back to the hut.

Kendall, after writing, revealed that he had voted for Brock. "Getting rid of you will weaken the Ventala alliance." He explained with a smirk as he voted and left the table.

Once all six players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forth their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." SSBFreak said. Riddle remained silent confidently, knowing that he wasn't a target. "…It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Brock." Brock glared at Kendall.

"Kendall. It's 1-1." Kendall returned the glance.

"Kendall." Kendall looked determined, hoping that things would go his way.

"…Chloe." This took Chloe, Brock and Kendall by complete surprise, their eyes widened.

"Chloe. It's 2-2-1." Chloe looked extremely nervous as Kendall just looked frustrated. "Last vote and ninth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Chloe. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

"But…But…What just happened?" Chloe asked. After a few seconds, she finally stood up and walked up to the host, leaving a stunned Brock sitting there.

"Chloe, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Chloe's torch. "It's time for you to go."

Chloe could only sigh sadly as she walked out of Tribal Council, leaving without a word and vanishing from sight.

Once Chloe was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "And so ends another Tribal Council, which shows once again that no one is safe until the votes are read." He explained. "…Normally, I'd tell you five to go back to camp, but we're going to do something a little different." He said as he looked outside of the hut. "You can come in, everyone."

The six remaining Ventala players entered the hut and saw that Chloe was voted out. Tempo looked down, but remained silent.

"You eleven have survived nine eliminations and have made it to the halfway point of the game." SSBFreak said. "So congratulations, because you've all officially made the merge."

"_Man. I was so close to the merge, only to get voted out when I wasn't expecting to even be a target." Chloe folded her arms. "I enjoyed myself out here and I made some friends, but I wish I could have gone a little further. Well, at least Anke and I will be able to catch up at the Loser's Resort. I have to say that I've missed her."_

**Voting History:**

**Chloe – Gary, Riddle and Samantha**

**Kendall – Brock and Chloe**

**Brock – Kendall**

Author's Notes: And so Chloe leaves at the last pre-merge boot. I had a much-better time writing for Chloe than I thought I would. Her personality was fun to write for, but it would have been hard to keep writing for her. I decided to boot her before I got bored with her and make her a more-enjoyable character.

Okay, here's where things get interesting. The merge is here, which makes it a good time for me to ask this. Next season will be All-Stars, and I want to include five characters from each of the previous seasons, including this one. I still haven't completely decided on the characters I want from this season, so I want to ask you all some questions and re-audition.

1 - What, if at all, would your character do differently in All Stars?

2 - A different outfit, normal and jury (if your character was voted out pre-merge, you don't need a new jury outfit).

3 - Any characters from past seasons that your character would like/dislike? The rest of the cast is chosen, but this is more to make sure that I get relationships right.

Yes, I'd like everyone to re-audition, because this isn't just for All-Stars, but for future Second Chances and Heroes Vs. Villains if I decide to do them. Just re-audition in a review. You don't need to send a note this time.


	10. Days 23 to 25

**(Tribal Council)**

The remaining eleven players stood in silence, wondering if they had just heard the host right.

"We…We made the merge?" Erica asked.

"Indeed you have. From here on out, you will all be living at the same camp and all of the challenges, unless stated otherwise, will be individual." SSBFreak explained. "However, first things first. I need all of you to hand in your buffs so I can give you new ones."

Everyone handed over their buffs, some eagerly. As soon as all eleven buffs had been given to him, SSBFreak passed out new buffs, these ones a bright green.

"From here on out, it's every man, woman or talking animal for themselves. You will be playing for individual immunity at the Immunity Challenges, where only one of you will win." SSBFreak explained. "Exile Island will still exist, and the winners of the Reward Challenges will send someone there. Now then, before I send you out into the wilderness again, I need you guys to decide which tribe to merge to."

The players looked at each other briefly, wondering which tribe to go to. Brock was the first to speak.

"I say we go to Ferren. Ventala may have the bigger lake, but Ferren has a waterfall." Brock explained.

Angela shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. Ventala is still in pretty rough shape from Fran-CINE's sabotage." She explained.

Brock looked at the host. "We'll merge at the Ferren Tribe." He said.

"Okay, then. The Rewards won in previous challenges will be at the camp when you get there. In addition, I'll need you all to think up a name for your tribe by the next challenge. It can be whatever you want." SSBFreak said. "With that, you can all head back to your new camp."

**(Ferren Tribe)**

"_Woohoo! I can't believe it, but I made the merge! I was thinking I'd be out of the game at this point! Making it here is a huge accomplishment in itself!" Danglars cheered. "But now that I'm here, my brother totally owes me fifty bucks. He thought I wouldn't make it this far."_

"It's not much to look at, but we've gotten used to it." Gary said as he led everyone into the camp.

"The lake is bigger than I thought it would be." Amy noted. "When Brock said it was smaller than ours, I thought it would be a lot smaller."

"Golly! That's a pretty impressive waterfall y'all got!" Corey said with a grin when she followed the others into camp.

"We can use it tomorrow if you wanted." Brock noted.

"_Making the merge is great, but I was so close to getting an extra ally in. Chloe would have been a help to us and could have given us an advantage." Brock said. "It basically back to square one for me because I seriously doubt any of the other Ferren players would be willing to join forces."_

Meanwhile, Kendall wasn't looking very pleased. As the Ferren players led the Ventala players around the camp to show them around, he motioned Samantha to come talk to him.

"What happened back there?" Kendall demanded. "The plan was to vote for Brock!"

"No. That was YOUR plan. I had no intention of actually doing it." Samantha said. "For future notes, Kendall? You have no power over me, and that vote proves it. The others are more-likely to listen to me than you right now."

"You know what? I could ditch you right here for not doing what I said." Kendall said.

Samantha folded her arms and smirked. "Go ahead. You'd have no allies left. Since Brock's still around, he's sure to tell Angela and the others about your treachery." She explained.

"_If there was one thing Brock was right about, it's that Kendall's up on a high horse and needs to be brought down from it." Samantha said. "He thought he could control me, but I don't take orders from a monkey."_

"I'm the one holding the cards now, Kendall." Samantha said victoriously. "Try and backstab me if you want, but even if you succeed, it'll just make you a sitting duck for the others."

Kendall paused, looking extremely mad. He sighed. "Fine. We'll do things your way for now." He said. "I'd just watch your back, though."

"Likewise, shrimp." Samantha said casually as she walked over to the shelter.

"_Samantha played a smart move and it seems I don't exactly have her on the leash I thought I did. I need to play a little smarter now." Kendall said. "Still, if she thinks I'm going to let her get away with this, she's still not as smart as she thinks. I'll lay low for now and take her out when the time comes for it."_

The eleven remaining players decided to go to bed, spending their first night as a merged tribe.

**(Ferren Tribe; Day 23)**

"_I managed to make the merge, which isn't all that surprising. I DID manage to get all of my allies to the merge, though. That should count for something." Angela shrugged. "That being said, I'm impressed that Brock managed to survive this long. Even on the other tribe, he managed to make the merge."_

"So Kendall isn't to be trusted?" Angela asked.

"No. He backstabbed Kenal and was very blunt about not wanting to join me. He was probably confident that I was next to go." Brock replied. "Too bad, though. My ally on Ferren got eliminated and she could have helped us."

"The panda girl?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. Turns out Tempo was her ally." Brock replied. "You don't think we can align with him, do you?"

"Already done, actually." Angela replied casually.

"Still, that tells us a lot about Kendall." Amy noted. "But…Didn't you tell me he was the one to tell you that Fran-CINE was the one sabotaging us?"

"That was Fran-CINE?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, but Kendall also told me that Kenal was blackmailing her to keep him quiet when he found out." Angela folded her arms. "I still don't get why he would tell the truth and a lie at the same time."

"_Now that the tribes are merged, Brock was able to tell us what's been going on, and now we know that Kendall isn't what we initially thought he was." Amy said. "While it's good to know this ahead of time, we've still got a lot of game to go."_

"So where does that leave us? Tempo's with you, and is Corey still on board?" Brock asked.

"She is. That's five out of eleven." Angela nodded. "We just need one more for the majority."

"You think Danglars would join the others if need be?" Amy asked.

"Doubtful. After Mongo made me use the idol, he hid from me for a couple of days." Angela waved it off.

Meanwhile, Riddle was walking around camp and spotted Erica sitting on a stone by herself. He gave a smirk and walked over.

"I knew you'd be here." Riddle said. "Trying to get away from all the people?"

"Just when the tribe was getting down to a more-manageable number, we hit the merge and suddenly there're eleven people again." Erica sighed.

"May as well get used to it." Riddle shrugged. "That being said, I'm glad you were able to survive this long."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"_I admit that I was worried when Erica was separated from us at the swap, but she managed to hold on and survive a few Tribal Councils." Riddle said. "This is good because now my alliance is back together again, but from what Erica's been telling me, there's a power alliance on the other tribe."_

"Angela and Amy are in an alliance?" Riddle asked.

"Seems that way. Apparently, Brock is part of it as well." Erica nodded. "From the looks of things, Corey's also on their good side."

"That's an alliance of four. That could be a little too threatening this late in the game." Riddle noted. "As much as I know you'd like you go after Samantha, I think we should whittle the other alliance's numbers down first."

Erica sighed. "Fine."

"_This power alliance is too big of a threat to leave alone, so we need to focus on taking out their numbers first, which I'm not exactly thrilled about." Erica said. "I hate having to spare Samantha again, but we need her vote…At least for now."_

Meanwhile, Danglars was walking around camp when he saw Gary relaxing by the lake. He also saw that Corey was beside him, talking her mouth off as usual. Danglars hesitantly made his way over.

"…And then when mah dad drop-kicked the elf, mah family was asked ta leave the Santa meet-an-greet." Corey laughed. "Every time Christmas comes around at the mall, the elves run and hide when they see mah dad coming!"

"Very interesting." Gary chuckled. "But…If you and your siblings were already too old to get your picture with Santa, why was he there in the first place?"

Corey shrugged. "He always said it was on his bucket list ta drop-kick an elf." She replied.

"_I actually find Corey's stories pretty funny, although if they're true, then she has quite the unusual family." Gary noted. "Her reunions must be one of a kind."_

"Uh…She's not bothering you, is she, Gary?" Danglars asked as he came over.

"Not at all." Gary shrugged. "Why? Is she always this talkative?"

"You have NO idea."

"What can Ah say?" Corey shrugged. "It's just part a' what Ah am. There are times where Ah just talk and I never really know how much Ah'm doing it. In fact, Ah only realize that Ah'm talkin' too much when mah family lets me know Ah'm getting' annoying."

"Like now?" Danglars asked flatly.

"Yeah! Kinda like now!" Corey laughed.

Danglars sighed and sat down beside Gary, staring off into space as Corey continued to ramble. Gary couldn't help but chuckle.

"_It sure is nice ta be on a big tribe again. Ah have ta say that Ah missed having a buncha people ta talk to." Corey said. "Now that Ah got some more people around here, Ah got more people ta talk to. Maybe some a' them'll have stories like mine!"_

Eventually, Corey finished her talking and wandered off to find someone else to talk to. Danglars watched her walk off and sighed. "I don't know how you have patience like that, man." He admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"The last person to have that kind of patience with Corey was a freaking ROBOT."

Gary shrugged again. "I just have a lot of patience." He admitted. "So I hear that there's a bit of a power alliance on your tribe?"

"Who told you that?"

"Erica." Gary replied. "Just to let you know: She's in an alliance with me."

"Oh." Danglars sighed. "I guess that would do it. Yeah, there's a big alliance. Like I'd tell you who it consists of, though."

Gary gave a shrug. "Honestly, it doesn't matter to me." He admitted. "You'd probably want to watch what you say around Riddle, though."

"_Riddle the one that's all about strategy. I just let things happen and go with the flow. It's not in me to be a real thinker, after all." Gary admitted. "That being said, I know for a fact that Riddle is going to want to take apart the other alliance first, but I was truthful when I said it didn't bother me."_

Later on, several members of the merged tribe were gathered around the fire pit, as if wondering what to do next.

"I have to admit that you have the better fire pit." Angela noted. "We couldn't really get ours to look well enough before it got destroyed."

"It does the job." Gary replied simply.

Tempo looked around. "Hey, you guys have any ideas for the new tribe name yet?" He asked. "We're supposed to have one before the next challenge, which is likely going to be tomorrow."

"He's right. We'll need to choose something before we go to bed." Amy agreed.

"How about 'Hantz Sucks'?" Erica asked with a smirk.

"I like it." Danglars held up his hand in agreement.

"It's not unique enough." Riddle shook his head.

"Yeah. Sure, it's true, but it's not unique." Amy shrugged.

"_After that, we started volleying ideas back and forth, but nothing came up that was good enough for the tribe name." Tempo said. "I mean, we all had some good ideas, but none that we all agreed on."_

"…There's no WAY we're naming our tribe something that vulgar." Tempo said flatly.

"It's going to happen SOMETIME." Samantha shrugged. "Why not now?"

"Because there's no way the network will allow it!"

"Seriously. That was just a real crude suggestion." Amy said, not looking amused.

"You people have no sense of humour." Samantha folded her arms.

Everyone suddenly heard a whistling sound and turned to see Corey coming over. They also saw that the paint bucket they were provided to name the tribe was in her hand.

"Howdy, y'all!" Corey greeted.

"Corey, why do you have the paint there?" Danglars asked.

"Oh, Ah just named the tribe. Hope y'all don't mind." Corey shrugged.

"Wait. You named the tribe without telling any of us?" Amy asked.

"Don't worry, Amy. It ain't like Ah named it somethin' stupid." Corey shrugged.

Brock came walking over, staring flatly. "Seriously, Corey. The Survivor Tribe?" He asked.

"What? It fits, don't it?"

_Angela rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not the worst thing that she could have named the tribe." She admitted._

Night eventually rolled in. The new tribe decided to go to bed to prepare for the challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 24)**

"_All of us think that we're going to have our first challenge as a merged tribe today. We don't know what it'll be, but we know we're having one." Brock shrugged. "If it's an Immunity Challenge, then I need to be on my guard. If people forget that I'm stronger than I look, I won't be a target."_

"I thought we put out the fire last night." Brock said as he walked over to the still-burning fire.

Tempo shrugged. "It was cold when I woke up and no one had any objections." He replied. "Although I should probably put it out now."

"Where is everybody?" Brock asked as he looked around. "I think I'm the last one up."

"I don't know, myself. I haven't seen many people come this way lately." Tempo replied. "But I think I saw Erica going to go check on treemail."

"_I need to keep my eyes on everyone from now on. Now that we're all playing for ourselves, there are going to be a LOT of disagreements." Tempo said. "If I can hang back and analyze everyone's weaknesses, I should be good. Take Brock. His big weakness appears to be his willingness to follow Angela. I don't see him coming up with his own alliance."_

"We have our first merged treemail." Erica announced as she walked over to the fire pit, only to see that only Tempo and Brock were there. "Uh…Where's everyone else?"

"Yee-haw!"

Erica looked up in time to see Corey leaping off the waterfall, landing in the water in a cannonball. Water splashed up on shore, drenched all three of the players by the fire pit and put out the fire at the same time.

"…You know what? Screw the others." Erica said as she ripped open the envelope. "Apparently, we have to have good throwing skills for this challenge."

"What's this about a challenge?" Kendall asked as he came over with Samantha.

"Where the heck were you?" Tempo asked.

"_I feel that I'm a target since Brock was able to tell the others about me. This means I really need to win Immunities." Kendall admitted. "If Samantha wanted to screw me over by keeping Brock, she's doing a pretty good job."_

"_A challenge like this is something I don't think I'd do well in, so I just need to hope it's a Reward." Erica said. "Still, if it IS Immunity, I've got no choice but to try my hardest. That being said, because I'm not a challenge threat, maybe I won't be targeted."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The eleven remaining players walked out onto a clearing and saw their mat, now a bright green, on the ground. Everyone walked over and stepped on.

"Welcome to your first individual challenge, everyone. Before we continue, I have to ask if you guys picked a name for the tribe." SSBFreak said.

"We're the Survivor Tribe." Corey said with a smile.

SSBFreak stood in silence. "Seriously?"

"Yep."

"…Okay then. Survivor Tribe, welcome to your first Reward Challenge, here we will see how well you can throw weights." SSBFreak explained. Everyone saw that there was a large target on the ground a good ways away. "You will take turns throwing weighted stones at the target, trying to get it closest to the bullseye. You only get one throw, so make sure you make it count. Whoever gets their stone closest to the middle of the target will win Reward, which is a day-long trip to a resort location."

The contestants glanced at each other. It was clear that some looked more excited about the reward than others.

"You will be going in random order, so if you'll all step this way and pick up a stone, we can begin."

Brock was up first. He tossed the stone to himself as gears turned in his head.

"Brock is up. You can go whenever."

Brock nodded and threw the stone. However, it hit the ground before it even reached the target.

"Not the best throw, but we'll see how it stacks up." SSBFreak said.

Erica was next. Holding the stone in her hands, all she did was lift an eyebrow at the host.

"Uh…You can go whenever, Erica."

"Um…No." Erica said as she simply dropped the stone to the ground. "I don't have a shot."

"Okay, fine. Brock still has the lead." SSBFreak shrugged.

Tempo was next. Needless to say, he was looking fairly confident.

"Tempo is up. You can throw whenever."

Tempo nodded, took a deep breath and hurled the stone at the target. It hit the target, but on one of the outer rings.

"An okay shot, but Tempo overtakes the lead from Brock."

Samantha was next. Like Tempo, she was looking relatively confident.

"You can throw whenever, Samantha."

Samantha threw the stone at the target as hard as she could. The stone managed to overtake Brock's but didn't go far enough to catch Tempo.

"Not good enough, I'm afraid. Tempo still leads."

"Those things are heavier than they look." Samantha shook her head as she walked off.

Corey was whistling as she walked up to the throwing point with a stone in hand. She gave a smirk.

"Corey is next. You can go whenever."

Corey threw her stone at the target, easily passing Brock's and Samantha's. Corey's projectile hit the target two rings closer to the middle than Tempo's.

"Corey manages to overtake Tempo and now has the lead."

"Aw, yeah! That's great!" Corey cheered.

Amy approached the throwing line. She looked confident, but not as relaxed as Corey.

"Amy is now up. You can throw whenever."

Amy nodded and hurled the stone at the target. Amy's stone managed to make it onto the target, but not enough to pass Corey.

"No good. Corey's still in the lead."

"She's stronger than I thought." Amy shook her head.

Kendall was next. He looked about as comfortable with his chances as Erica, as he simply looked between his stone and the host a few times. "Seriously?"

"Yes. You can go whenever."

"Fine, then I'm not going to bother." Kendall shook his head as he walked off, leaving the stone on the ground. SSBFreak sighed.

Danglars was up next. Seeing how close Corey was to the middle, he wasn't sure about his chances.

"Danglars, you can go whenever."

Danglars took a deep breath and threw the stone towards the target, only for it to come down around where Samantha's landed.

"Nice try, but it's not enough. Corey maintains the lead."

"Man. That sucks." Danglars sighed.

Angela was next, looking more determined than anything. Her vision narrowed as she focused on where she was going to throw.

"Angela is next. You can-" SSBFreak said before Angela threw her stone, cutting him off.

Angela's stone easily made it onto the target, passing everyone's up to Tempo's. When Angela's stone hit the target, people saw that it was a ring closer to the middle than Corey's.

"Just enough to take the lead from Corey. Angela now leads."

Angela simply smirked in satisfaction, nodded and walked off.

As Angela walked off, Riddle approached. Needless to say, he wasn't liking his chances.

"Riddle is next. You can go whenever."

Riddle ended up trying and threw the stone towards the target. Unfortunately, he didn't do very well, his stone hitting the ground just behind Samantha's and Danglars'.

"Not enough, I'm afraid. Angela still leads."

"I wasn't about to simply forfeit." Riddle shrugged.

Gary was the last to go, holding the weighted stone under his arm. He, like always, looked laid-back.

"Gary is the last to go. You can go whenever."

"Thanks." Gary said as he threw his stone, sending it towards the target.

Nobody was surprised to see Gary's stone make the target, but people were just wondering if he could overshoot Angela and Corey. The stone hit the target and everyone saw that his was one ring off the middle of the target, easily beating both Angela and Corey.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Gary wins Reward!"

Gary nodded with a smile. "That's great! Thanks!"

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Gary. For winning the challenge, you can go to the resort location for the day. However, it would be lonely to go there alone, so you can choose one of the others to go with you."

"Only one?" Gary asked. He scanned everyone else as he started thinking before making his decision. "How about…Angela."

Angela's eyes widened. "Really?" She asked. Nevertheless, she walked over to Gary.

"Now you have to choose to send someone to Exile Island." SSBFreak said.

"Um…Corey."

Corey gave a shrug. "Sure. Ah'll go." She said.

"Okay. You three will go your respective ways and meet up with everyone else at the Immunity Challenge tomorrow." SSBFreak said before turning to everyone else. "To the rest of you, all I can say is that you need to prepare for the challenge tomorrow, since that's the challenge that matters. You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_That was…Unexpected. I was counting on Gary to send Erica or myself to Exile so we could find the idol. Instead, he sent Corey." Riddle scratched his head. "I seriously hope he doesn't have that much faith that the idol I already have is the real one, because even I'm not sure about that."_

"What was Gary thinking? Did he forget about us or something?" Erica asked.

"I don't know." Riddle sighed. "Perhaps he saw the idol Chloe played a while ago and he knows I have the real one."

"Isn't that still taking a big gamble, and even then, do you think he's one to come up with something like that?" Erica quizzed.

Riddle sighed again. "Probably not."

"_Gary sent one of the opposition to Exile Island to see if she could find the idol. I'm trying to come up with an answer, but I'm not getting anything." Erica noted. "Riddle thinks that Gary's confident that he has the right idol, but I think Riddle's giving him too much credit."_

"Let me see that idol again." Erica said.

"I thought you said that you didn't see the one Angela played." Riddle noted, but showed her the idol anyway.

"I honestly can't remember. I thought seeing this would jog my memory." Erica said, although she shook her head. "Nope. I got nothing."

Meanwhile, Kendall was trying to get some extra votes. He was currently trying to sway Danglars.

"Look, Angela's in a power alliance. They need to be taken apart before they get too powerful." Kendall said.

"You're a fine one to talk." Danglars folded his arms. "Look, I spent a day hiding from Angela when the vote didn't go the way Mongo wanted. Why would I want to get on her bad side again right after I got on her good side?"

"Because you'll have to do it eventually. Why not do it when there's more people?"

"_I wasn't counting on pitching myself to others, especially not the people who I shared a tribe with, but the recent circumstances have left me with no choice." Kendall sighed. "Since Danglars is obviously on the outs of the Ventala power alliance, my first instinct was to try and recruit him."_

"_Uh…Yeah. After everything I went through back when Mongo left, do you think I'd want to turn against Angela's alliance again?" Danglars folded his arms. "Hey, I DO have some common sense, you know."_

"Look, you're better off trying to get through to someone else." Danglars said as he walked off. "I don't want to turn against them."

Kendall muttered a few choice words as he turned and stalked off, passing Samantha as he did.

"So how'd it go?" Samantha asked with a smirk.

"Shut up!"

"_I love seeing that twerp struggling here." Samantha said, still smirking._

**(Resort Location)**

"_I'm actually a little surprised here. Gary won the challenge, and yet he decided to bring me along instead of someone from his alliance." Angela lifted an eyebrow. "That just has me confused, because if I was in his shoes, I'd be taking one of my allies."_

"This place seems pretty nice." Gary said as he looked out at the view from a balcony. He looked over at Angela. "You've been pretty quiet on the way here, Angela. What's on your mind?"

"What do you mean? Why on Earth did you choose to bring me along instead of one of your alliance members?" Angela asked.

"Oh. Is THAT what's bugging you?" Gary asked. "Well, you did real well in the challenge, so I thought that it be only fair to let you come on a trip that you could have won if I didn't beat you."

"That's seriously it? You didn't want to discuss strategy or anything?"

"That's Riddle's department. Not mine."

"_I like to think of myself as a nice guy, and if I think someone did well enough in a challenge to deserve the prize, I'll bring them along." Gary shrugged. "I mean, it's only fair, right?"_

"And…What about sending Corey to Exile?" Angela asked.

"She did well in the challenge as well." Gary shrugged.

Angela paused in thought, but decided not to press the matter any further and walked over to the balcony. "How did someone so strong get to be such a softy?" She asked, more to herself.

"It's just who I am, I guess." Gary answered. "Why? Is there a problem?"

Angela paused, arms folded. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it." She warned. "I think you're too friendly for your own good. Even with your strength, your easy-going personality would get you killed pretty quickly."

Gary couldn't help but chuckle. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but having a sour attitude isn't the best way to live life, either." He said. "So I guess we're even, aren't we?"

Angela sighed. "Fine."

"Great…Oh, it looks like the dinner's ready." Gary said as he looked inside the resort and saw an array of food. "You coming?"

"Sure." Angela nodded as she followed Gary into the building.

"_I meant what I said. Gary is FAR too nice. If he wasn't so strong, I probably wouldn't even give him a second glance." Angela said. "The fact that he's strong and has a personality like this is even more confusing, but I still say it wouldn't do him any good on the battlefield."_

"_I'm sure Angela means well, but her lack of social skills really shows in this game. Even from the little I've seen of her, I can tell that she's not exactly popular where she comes from." Gary noted. "I don't want to pressure her to change herself, but I just wish that she'd lighten up once in a while."_

**(Exile Island)**

Corey gave a whistle as she looked around. "Golly, it's bigger than Ah thought." She noted. "How am Ah gonna find an idol in a place like this?"

Corey walked over to the treemail box by the shelter and pulled out the clue. She read it over a few times and looked around again. "Time ta start lookin'…"

"_Ah was surprised that Gary sent me ta Exile, but Ah ain't complainin'. Ah get ta search fer the idol." Corey reasoned. "Well, Ah just grabbed the clue from the clue box and started lookin' around fer the idol, hopin' Ah could find it."_

"Ah think it's gotta be under a tree, but which one?" Corey said as she studied the clue.

Indeed, there were many trees around, and even if Corey was on the right track, it would take her forever to find the right one.

"Ah guess Ah gotta start lookin'." The cowgirl sighed as she got up and walked off.

Corey looked high and low, trying to follow the clue as best as she could, spending a good portion of the day searching. In the end, she came up with nothing.

"That's strange. Ah'm sure Ah'm searchin' the right spot." Corey scratched her head.

"_Well, Ah couldn't find the idol, which is a bit of a waste since Ah probably wouldn't have been sent here if it weren't Gary that won the challenge." Corey reasoned. "Ah wish Ah could've taken advantage of the free opportunity, but Ah guess Ah just couldn't find it."_

Later on, Corey yawned. "Well, Ah guess Ah'd better turn in. It's getting' kinda late and Ah gotta be ready fer the challenge." She mused.

Soon, everyone decided to go to bed, preparing for the all-important first individual immunity…

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 25)**

"_Now that we've merged, I need to keep my options open. I don't want to join a big alliance because that would just make me a target." Tempo folded his arms. "This may be the best time to slip by under everyone's radars, but that means that I need to avoid making any strategic moves."_

"So what are you guys thinking of doing?" Tempo asked.

"If Gary doesn't win Immunity, we'll target him." Brock explained. "He's way too much of a physical threat to keep around."

"Yeah. Plus, it would take apart Riddle's alliance." Amy agreed.

"Every vote helps, and we know you're pretty much on your own." Brock shrugged. "If it helps, I was aligned with Chloe while we were out here."

"Okay. I guess we'll just have to see what happens." Tempo shrugged.

Amy said nothing further, but sighed and rolled her eyes.

"_Amy and I want to make sure we get as many votes as we can. Right now, the biggest threat is Riddle's alliance of three." Brock noted. "Since Tempo appears to be on the outs, Amy and I agreed to at least give him the option to join us."_

"_I really hate it when a choice is left with an outside source. It makes me feel less-comfortable with my position in the game." Amy sighed. "Still, this is as good as we're going to get at the moment, so we'll have to go with it and hope that Tempo comes through for us in the end."_

"We got treemail, guys! Time for the first Immunity as a merged tribe!" Danglars announced.

Everyone saw that Danglars was carrying a letter, so they approached him from different sides as he opened the treemail.

"It's wondering how our balance is." Danglars said.

"A balancing task. I think it's safe to say that it's anyone's game in that territory." Erica shook her head. No one appeared to disagree with her.

"Kinda makes you wonder how we'll be balancing, though." Tempo noted. "Like, are we holding something in the air or are we balancing ourselves?"

"I'd say you're thinking too hard." Samantha said before smirking. "You may want to stop before you hurt yourself."

"_I think I can do well in a balancing challenge if it's the right type. I just need to see what exactly the challenge will be." Samantha explained. "Outlasting ten other people is likely easier than it sounds, anyway."_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The eight players from camp emerged from the jungle and walked out onto the beach. They saw their tribe's mat on the ground and walked over to it, stepping on.

"Before we begin, let's bring back Gary and Angela, who are returning from their trip, and Corey, who is back from Exile." SSBFreak said.

The three players in question approached the tribe from both sides, stepping onto the mat and joining the group, forming the full eleven players.

"Welcome to your first individual Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your balance and endurance." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw that there was a long bar out in the water. "All of you will be standing on that long beam out in the water, forming a line. Basically, the goal is to stay standing on that beam for as long as you can. If you fall into the water, you're out, and if you forcibly push anyone into the water, you will automatically be disqualified. Whoever lasts the longest out on the beam will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The eleven players, knowing that is was anyone's game, looked determined to win.

"If you'll all go out into the water and get onto the beam, we can start." SSBFreak explained.

**(Later…)**

The eleven remaining players stood out on the beam in a line, determined to outlast the others. Because they had just started, everyone was standing straight and not wavering.

"The challenge has officially started and everyone appears to be doing fine." SSBFreak said. "Gary, how do you think you'd fare in challenges like this since strength isn't involved?"

Gary gave a shrug. "I think I've still got a shot. I think I can do well in a challenge like this." He responded. "Although I guess I won't know until the challenge is done."

"So you're not feeling unbalanced?"

"The challenge just started. I don't see how any of us would be." Gary replied.

"Samantha, what's your strategy?"

"I'm trying to apply the same strategy as I'm sure most people are." Samantha replied. "I don't see it as winning. It's just outlasting ten other people."

"That strategy is as old as time." Amy lifted an eyebrow.

"It's also effective."

"Corey, what's going through your mind?" SSBFreak asked.

"Not much. Just that Ah finally remembered where Ah left mah baseball glove at home, and that mah friends owe me money…And that mah dad's driver's license expires next month…" Corey said as she trailed off. "…And that Ah was supposed ta drive mah brother to a date before Ah came here…"

"I GET IT." SSBFreak said flatly. "Okay. You guys seem to be doing well enough, so I'll leave you guys alone for a while and come back later to check up on you."

**(Later…)**

"It's been twenty minutes and no one's budged yet. I'm sure that some of you are starting to feel a little fatigued." SSBFreak said. "Angela, is the challenge getting to you?"

"Of course not. It's only been twenty minutes." Angela replied. "I'm just getting started."

"Kendall, what about you?"

"What ABOUT me?" Kendall asked. "I'm a monkey. Monkeys are known for their balancing."

"Fair enough." SSBFreak shrugged. "Brock, what's going through your mind now?"

"Not a whole lot. Most of us are just focused on outlasting the others." Brock replied.

"Most of you?"

"I'm sure Corey's mind's elsewhere." Brock said.

"Ah heard mah name." Corey piped up.

"Well, none of you have dropped out yet, and I think it's time I gave you a little motivation to do so." SSBFreak said. "If three people drop out, I will give them each a large plate of fresh pasta made however they like."

Erica jumped pretty quickly, while Amy followed her into the water. The remaining nine players looked at each other uneasily, as if daring the others to go first.

Finally, Tempo sighed. "Fine. If no one else is going for it, I will." He said as he jumped into the water.

"Erica, Amy and Tempo are out of the challenge. You guys can come to shore and get your reward." SSBFreak said as the three contestants swam to shore.

This obviously left eight people still on the beam. It was clear that no one else was dropping, at least not yet.

"Okay, if no one else is going to drop, I'll get back to you guys in a little bit." SSBFreak said.

"Take your time." Angela said with a smirk.

**(Later…)**

It was clear that none of the remaining players were going to give up easily, as they still remained standing and showed no signs of fatigue, or at least none that the others could see.

"You eight have been up there for an hour now. I'm sure your legs are starting to tire out by now." SSBFreak said. "Danglars, how do you feel?"

"I don't know. My legs fell asleep." Danglars replied. "Hopefully, that means that I won't be able to feel the fatigue."

"It still hasn't been that long." Angela noted.

"I'll…Cross that bridge when we get there."

"Riddle, do you see yourself at an advantage in a challenge like this?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'd like to say yes, but something's telling me otherwise." Riddle explained. "I have no idea how everyone's legs are, but I think I'm still in pretty good shape. After an hour, I'd say that most people would begin to feel it."

"Are you?"

"A little bit, but like I said, I'm still okay."

"Okay…Um…Samantha, how's your strategy of trying to outlast everyone else working?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'm still good. As long as my legs don't buckle, I'm going to stay that way." Samantha said, button eyes narrowed.

"We all have that strategy, though." Gary supplied.

"I wasn't talking to you, GARY." Samantha sighed.

"Well, I think it's time to offer some more incentives." SSBFreak said. "If three more people drop now, they will each receive a pizza made however they want with whatever toppings they want."

"That's what I was waiting for." Brock said with a grin as he jumped into the water.

"That sounds pretty good right now." Gary nodded as he jumped into the water after Brock.

"Wait fer me!" Corey called out as she jumped off the beam.

"With that, Brock, Gary and Corey are all out." SSBFreak said. "You guys can come to shore and order your pizzas."

This left Kendall, Angela, Samantha, Danglars and Riddle. The remaining players looked amongst each other, again seeing that no one else was going to drop.

"If no one else is going to drop out, I'll get back to the rest of you in a little bit." SSBFreak said. "See you in an hour."

"An HOUR?" Danglars asked.

**(Later…)**

SSBFreak wasn't kidding. It was indeed another hour before the host decided to check on the remaining players. They were all still standing.

"It's been two hours. I'm sure that everyone is feeling some sort of pain by this point." SSBFreak said. "Angela, what are you thinking about?"

"At the moment, I'm trying to block out the numbing in my legs." Angela said. "I obviously don't want to move, because then I'd just lose my balance."

"Kendall, how are you managing to hold out?"

"Still in it, and I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to feel a little fatigued." Kendall noted. "I just hope the others fall before I give out."

"Danglars, I'm surprised that you're still in. What's your secret?"

"Truth be told, I can't move anymore." Danglars said. "I just need to hope I don't get blown over."

"How can you not move?" Angela asked.

"I've been standing in one position for two hours. It feels like all of my muscles have seized up."

Samantha smirked. "You've got none to begin with."

"If I could move my arm, I would smack you."

"Riddle, how would you gauge the rest of your competition at this point?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'm surprised we're the ones still up here. That confirms that it's anyone's game." Riddle said. "I'm sore, but we'll just have to see where we end up."

"Samantha, how do you think your chances are now?"

"I'm still in it, aren't I?" Samantha asked. "We all need the win whether we think so or not."

"You think you can outlast then others?"

"It's worked this well for me so far."

"Well, let's speed things along. I need three people to drop out, and if they do, they'll receive a chocolate cake to divide between them." SSBFreak announced.

Kendall paused, then sighed. "May as well." He said as he jumped from the beam.

"I doubt I would have lasted much longer, anyway." Riddle agreed as he jumped into the water.

Samantha stood in silence for a few seconds before relenting. "I don't want to do this, but I think I'm safe." She said as she jumped into the water.

"Kendall, Riddle and Samantha are all out. We're now down to two people." SSBFreak said.

This left Angela and Danglars. The two looked at each other, Angela much-more determined than Danglars.

"I'll come back to you guys in a little while."

"Wait."

"Yes, Danglars?" SSBFreak asked.

"Angela, if I drop out now, will you promise not to target me?" Danglars asked.

"Honestly, you've got nothing to worry about for the time being." Angela shook her head. "Sounds like a deal to me."

"Okay. I'll drop, then."

The two stood in silence for several seconds, neither of them making a move.

"Well?" Angela asked.

"…I can't move. My muscles actually seized up." Danglars said. He slowly tipped his body backwards before he fell into the water, landing on his back.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Angela wins Immunity!"

Angela cheered as she jumped into the water, thankful that the win went to her.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Angela. You have a one-in-ten chance at winning the game." SSBFreak said as he gave a fancy-looking necklace to Angela.

"Off to a good start, so we'll see where this goes." Angela nodded.

SSBFreak turned to the other contestants. "Angela is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council, where you will vote someone out, just after making the merge." He explained. "It's time to start thinking strategically and decide which people are bigger threats, because at this point, they're the ones that will become targets. You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Angela won the challenge, which is great because it gives us an advantage. Ah couldn't git the idol at Exile, but maybe we can still git the numbers." Corey supplied. "It seems that we got a swing vote, and the vote is split. All Ah can say is that it's gunna be close."_

"Sorry Ah couldn't find the idol on Exile." Corey scratched her head.

"It's fine. We still have a chance." Angela said.

"Angela, I know you value strength, but we need to take Gary out while we still have the chance." Amy explained. "He's the biggest threat physically and if we take him out, then we'll dominate the rest of the strength challenges."

Angela paused, then nodded. "Okay. I suppose that seems like the best course of action."

"_I respect Gary because of his strength, but like I've said, he's way too positive for my tastes. Perhaps it's best that he goes before too long." Angela said. "Maybe him going would be the best thing for him. It would get him to realize that you can't be positive your entire life."_

"Ya think Tempo will vote with us?" Corey asked.

"Is that who the swing vote is tonight?" Amy asked. "I thought Danglars was."

"I'm…Pretty sure Danglars is on board." Brock said.

Meanwhile, the opposing alliance appeared to be having a similar conversation, and were relaying messages to Kendall and Samantha.

"Since Angela has Immunity, we figured it would be best to go after the next-strongest person on their alliance." Riddle said. "Just so you know, we're voting for Corey."

"So you going to leave us be?" Samantha asked, eyebrow lifted.

"For now, yes. Just so long as you vote with us and not against us." Riddle warned.

"Do that once and we'd gladly join the other alliance in taking the both of you out." Erica folded her arms.

"I'll keep that in mind." Samantha said flatly.

"_It makes me sick that I'm still going to be keeping Samantha around, but I have to admit that such a big opposing alliance is serious trouble." Erica said. "We need to whittle away at their numbers while we have the chance, and once we get a comfortable majority, we'll be free to take down the freeloaders that should have been gone ages ago."_

"Do you have the numbers?" Samantha asked. "From what I can tell, there's only one possible swing vote."

"I think we can get Tempo to vote with us." Gary shrugged.

"You seem pretty calm when you consider that they're likely gunning for you." Erica said, eyebrow lifted.

"If it happens, it happens." Gary replied. "I won't let it bother me."

"_I sure hope that cheerfulness isn't contagious." Samantha said flatly._

"_Frankly, I'd feel a little honoured that they would consider a guy my age a threat. I know I'm strong, but my age still factors into it." Gary pointed out. "We're hoping that Tempo will vote with us, but if he doesn't I probably won't be surprised…"_

**(Tribal Council)**

The eleven remaining players walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Finding a spot, everyone sat down and waited for the council to commence.

"Welcome to your first post-merge Tribal Council, Survivor Tribe. In a moment, one of you eleven will be voted out of the game, just after making the merge." SSBFreak said before starting to ask questions. "Brock, how is life at camp now that everyone's merged?"

"It's good to see my old tribe-mates again. I'm just glad I made it this far while I was targeted for elimination." Brock explained. "That being said, the merged tribe appears to be divided at this point."

"What do you mean?"

"It's still basically Ventala against Ferren, with Tempo as a swing vote and Kendall siding with Ferren." Brock explained.

"Tempo, you lost an ally the last Tribal Council. How did that feel?" SSBFreak asked.

"It was rough. I had an alliance with Chloe and Anke when we started, and now I'm the only one left." Tempo sighed.

"You aligned with two physical liabilities. You honestly should have seen it coming." Samantha pointed out.

"Hey, the votes were still close."

"Angela, why do you think Kendall is siding with the other tribe?" SSBFreak asked.

"Because he doesn't like any of us and has been planning to backstab the lot of us since the start." Angela folded her arms.

"That's a little blunt, don't you think?" Kendall asked.

"You know it's true. You told me a lie that Kenal was blackmailing Fran-CINE to keep her secret of being the tribe saboteur a secret." Angela said. "Why would you lie to me about that, and yet tell me the truth about Fran-CINE?"

"I don't have to answer that." Kendall shook his head.

"Maybe not, but I'm just warning you now." Angela said. "I don't take very kindly to liars."

"Corey, how was Exile Island?" SSBFreak asked.

"Meh. It was okay, but Ah couldn't find the idol." Corey replied. "Ah musta' searched that place in every logical location the clue was tellin' me ta go and Ah still didn't find it."

"So what does that mean?"

"Ah think that someone here already has the idol and ain't tellin' us." Corey replied. "Fer the life of me, Ah can't remember who's been there since the last time the idol were used."

Angela appeared to be looking around suspiciously, but no one seemed to notice.

"Danglars, how do you think the vote will go tonight?" SSBFreak asked.

"It's between Corey and Gary since they're some of the strongest here." Danglars replied. "From what I can assume, the vote's going to be close."

"How close?"

"Like, down to one vote close."

"Gary, do you feel in danger?" SSBFreak asked.

"I guess. I mean, I can see that people may see me as a threat, and I won't be surprised if I end up going." Gary shrugged. "We may have the votes, but at the same time, we may not."

"Okay. I think that's enough questions. Before we continue, I have to ask: Angela, you have Immunity. Are you keeping it?" SSBFreak asked.

"Definitely."

"With that, Angela is safe and cannot be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Erica, you're up."

Erica got up and walked out of the hut to go vote. Reaching the voting table, the goth girl wrote a name down, voted and left to go back.

Samantha wrote a name down silently. "Let's hope this works." She said as she voted and left the table again.

Corey approached the table and wrote a name down. "Ah gotta vote you out now, pardner. It ain't personal." She said, having voted for Gary.

Brock wrote a name down without a second thought. "There isn't any way I'm going back on the intended target." He said as he put the ballot into the urn and walked off.

Danglars walked up to the table and scribbled a name down. He quickly folded the ballot and shoved it into the urn before briskly going back to the hut.

Riddle wrote a name down, also without thinking twice. He casually put his vote into the jar and made his way back.

Gary casually wrote a name down and showed Corey's name. "Believe me when I say it's not personal. Good luck." He said as he voted and walked away.

Kendall gave a smirk as he wrote a name down. The monkey placed his ballot into the urn and left to return to the hut.

Tempo still looked unsure about his vote as he approached the table. He nevertheless wrote a name down, voted and walked away without second-guessing.

Angela looked determined. She approached the table, wrote a name down and placed her ballot into the urn before heading back.

Amy was the last to vote. She walked up to the table, wrote a name down and put it into the urn. Nodding once, Amy left to go back to the hut.

Once all eleven players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn of votes and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." SSBFreak said. Riddle remained silent, still unsure if he had the real idol. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Gary." Gary shrugged.

"Gary." Gary still looked unfazed.

"…Corey." Corey remained silent.

"Gary. It's 3-1." Gary also remained silent.

"Corey." The cowgirl bit her lip.

"…Corey. It's 3-3." The two exchanged glances.

"Corey." Everyone knew it would come down to one vote.

"Corey. She leads 5-3." Everyone was silent.

"…Gary." Gary took a deep breath.

"Gary. We're tied at 5-5." The next vote would decide it, and the tension was thick. "Final vote, first member of the jury and tenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Corey. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Corey sighed and stood up. "Well, Ah had fun. Ah can't complain." She admitted as she picked up her torch and walked over to the host.

"Corey, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Corey's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Do yer best, guys! Win it fer me!" Corey said to her teammates as she walked out of the hut and vanished from sight.

Once Corey was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "So ends the first post-merge Tribal Council and Corey has taken the fall. It was a close vote, which tells me that the tribe is indeed divided." SSBFreak said. "However, only time will tell how long that will last. There are ten of you left and most of you will follow in Corey's footsteps, so I think it's safe to say that you're all going to be picking up your game. You can all head back to camp."

The ten remaining players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Brock brought up the rear, looking a little down. He was hoping he and Corey would go further together, and now that she was gone, he'd need to make another plan…

"_Ah made the merge and Ah surprised mahself out here. Ah made friends and Ah showed that Ah got what it takes ta survive." Corey admitted. "Ah got no regrets with how Ah played. Now Ah gotta think about who's getting' mah vote…Ah guess Ah'd better wait and see who gets voted out next, though…"_

**Voting History:**

**Corey – Erica, Gary, Kendall, Riddle, Samantha and Tempo**

**Gary – Amy, Angela, Brock, Corey and Danglars**

Author's Notes: And Corey leaves as the first post-merge casualty. She was fun to write for because of her stories, but I knew from the start that she wouldn't win, so I tried to make her as OTT as possible (and yet, she was still overshadowed in early stages). Corey was getting hard to write for close to the end of her stay, so booting her here was probably the best choice.

**(Ponderosa)**

A fancy-looking car drove up to what seemed like a small resort somewhere on the island. The back door opened up and Corey stepped out, smiling brightly at the sight.

"Thanks fer the ride, pardner!" Corey said to the driver as she shut the door and watched the car drive away. Corey walked up to the door of the large building and walked inside the house.

"_Well, Ah got voted outta the game. Ah guess it had ta happen sooner or later, but Ah'm glad Ah made it this far." Corey admitted. "After Ah got a medical checkup ta see if Ah contacted anythin', Ah got into this car and it drove me here. This huge house is gonna be mah home fer the rest of the competition, so Ah'll just make mahself comfortable."_

Corey instantly smelled something good when she entered Ponderosa. She tried to block out the smell for now as she looked around at the huge interior, complete with an upper floor and lounge area on the main level.

"This place is big!" Corey said in awe. "Man, Ah'm gonna like it here."

Following the smell, Corey walked into a big kitchen and saw that there was a large array of food spread out on a big table. Licking her lips, Corey walked over and scanned the display.

"Hmm…What should Ah have first?" Corey asked. She reached for a plate of steaks and grabbed the biggest piece she could see. "It's been a while since Ah had some good food. Ah'll start with this." She said as she grabbed a can of pop from the table and walked back into the lounge area.

"_Ah got three days to mahself, and Ah got mixed feelings about that. It's great to get away from the game, but Ah'm gonna git lonely and start talkin' ta mahself." Corey pointed out. "Believe me, mah parents know how strange it sounds when Ah start talkin' ta mahself. Heck, Ah apparently once had an argument with mahself while Ah was sleepin' and Ah didn't notice it."_

Corey watched some TV as she ate, going back for seconds (and even thirds) after finishing what was one her plate. "Man. Why does everyone hate that Cowell guy?" She asked herself. "That singer was totally not good. Why the heck is the audience supportin' her?"

Eventually, Corey finished eating. The cowgirl, finally satisfied, stood up and decided to wander around Ponderosa.

"Let's see what they got around here…" Corey mused.

Corey was quick to find the different bedrooms, and it became apparent that several people would have to room together. Needless to say, this pleased Corey.

"Looks like Ah'm gonna git a roommate." Corey said with a grin.

"_Ah didn't even bother lookin' in the bedroom with the one bed. Ah mean, Ah think it'd be fun ta room with someone, so Ah just chose a room that had more than one bed in it." Corey shrugged. "Ah don't think the others will disagree with mah reasonin' on that."_

Corey sat down on the bed she had chosen for herself and sat in silence, as if wondering what to do next. "Man, Ah sure am gonna git bored." She said. "Ah hope someone gets eliminated soon…But who's gunna go? Ah mean, it's logical that someone strong would go next, but Ah hope mah tribe can pull together some votes and git back on top of things since Ah dunno if Ah wanna vote fer someone from Ferren." She sat back and relaxed, still talking. "And Ah really dunno if Ah wanna spend three days alone with someone like Kendall or Samantha…Erica seems like she'd be nice ta talk to, though. Maybe Ah can get her ta open up some if she comes here. Then there's Riddle…"

"The next contestant can't get here soon enough." The cameraman sighed as Corey continued to talk.


	11. Days 26 to 28

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_That could have ended a little better. Corey just got eliminated and it was by one vote. Now we don't have the advantage anymore." Amy folded her arms. "At the moment, we don't know who that hinky vote was, but the only candidates are Danglars and Tempo."_

"What do you think happened back there?" Brock asked.

"The only thing that could have happened is that one of the guys flipped." Amy shrugged. "But who did it?"

"I guess we've got reasons to suspect them both." Brock added as he turned to Angela, who remained silent. "What do you think, Angela?

Angela simply stood in silence, arms folded. She looked up at her two remaining allies. "We're not going to let what just happened happen again." She said.

"_I get mad when things don't go my way. I have everything planned out and then a curve ball gets thrown at me." Angela said, not looking pleased. "This is the first time for me in the competition that a vote hasn't gone the way I was wanting it to, and I want to avoid it again to keep myself and my allies afloat."_

"We'll have to interrogate the guys tomorrow and see what they have to say to defend themselves." Amy suggested.

"That's probably the best thing to do." Brock nodded.

Meanwhile, Kendall was across the camp, giving a smirk at the recent turn of events.

"This is good. One more vote like that and we can get an advantage and vote out every single one of the Ventala players." Kendall said. "Everything's going according to plan."

"What plan? Riddle and the others came to US." Samantha folded her arms.

"Shut up and let me have my moment."

"_Since the vote went a way he likes, Kendall's back to thinking he's got everyone doing his bidding. It's…It's just pathetic." Samantha said. "That being said, the reason we took out Corey is simply because we want to whittle that alliance down some. Kendall seems to have forgotten that there's an alliance almost as big on Ferren."_

"Look, I'm willing to vote out some more of the Ventala alliance first, but once they get down to a manageable number, we're going to switch targets to the Ferren alliance." Samantha said.

"No. I won't be satisfied until the Ventala alliance is wiped out."

"Well, too bad. If we do that, it'll be impossible to take down Riddle's alliance by then."

"_My goal is to cut all ties with Ventala and vote them out as soon as possible. If anyone is going to ruin my gameplan, it's someone from Ventala." Kendall explained. "The Ferren players I have no worries about, but I just need to make sure I'm the only Ventala player in the finals."_

The ten remaining players decided to go to bed, knowing that there were some questions that would need answering the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 26)**

"_Corey got eliminated, and that's worse for me than it is for the alliance, since I was forming a bit of a side alliance with her." Brock sighed. "Well, I have to start again, but since we're wondering who was the deciding vote for Corey, we need to ask Danglars and Tempo some questions."_

"So you DIDN'T vote for Corey last night?" Brock asked, slightly surprised.

"No. I voted for Gary." Tempo insisted.

"Um…Can I ask why?"

"Don't tell Angela this, but it's because I think Gary's the strongest here." Tempo replied.

Brock rubbed the back of his head. "Don't worry. I won't tell her."

"_I needed to make up a little lie about Danglars being the swing vote to vote out Corey in order to make it look like I voted with them." Tempo explained. "If anything, they'll trust me and vote for me at the end."_

"Hmm…I guess I'll have to think about this." Brock noted.

"For sure. By the way, who's the next target? We still voting for Gary?"

"Not sure yet. I'll have to get back to you on that."

Meanwhile, Amy was talking to Danglars, asking similar questions as Brock was asking Tempo.

"So you DIDN'T vote for Corey?" Amy checked.

"No way! It took me a long time to get Angela's trust again!" Danglars insisted. "Why would I throw that away?"

"Relax, will you? I'm just asking questions."

"_I didn't want Angela to be the one asking questions since I know she'll likely say something we'd all regret, so Brock and I were forced to interrogate." Amy explained. "Danglars is pretty insistent that he didn't vote against us, but I just need to determine if he's telling the truth or trying to pin the blame on someone else."_

"So you guys are thinking that I helped vote out Corey?" Danglars asked.

"It's a possibility that we're going over." Amy admitted. "We're still not sure, yet."

"Well, I swear that it wasn't me. It must have been Tempo!"

"Well, we know it's between the two of you." Amy shrugged. "Okay. Thanks for at least defending your case, Danglars."

With that, Amy turned and walked off. Danglars stood in silence for a few seconds and sighed.

"_Why would I vote out one of Angela's allies after trying to get in good with her again? I didn't vote for Corey!" Danglars insisted, wide-eyed. "I…I don't even know why I'm a suspect!"_

A little later, Amy and Brock had met up again and had relayed information on what they had gathered. Angela had her arms folded and looked between the two.

"They're both denying voting out Corey." Amy sighed. "I don't know what to think."

"I personally think Tempo is the one telling the truth." Brock explained. "He seems to acknowledge Gary as a threat."

"I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out."

"I still say I would have been able to tell who was lying if you let me ask the questions." Angela rolled her eyes.

"Uh…No offense, but you're not exactly the best with words." Brock scratched his head.

"Well, from what you're telling me and from what I know of the two, I would guess that Danglars is the one telling the truth." Angela said.

"We admit that he's scared to vote against us, but that doesn't mean he didn't get another offer." Amy added.

"Call it instinct."

"_I admit that my people skills aren't the best, but you can't really blame me. That being said, something's telling me that Tempo's the one lying." Angela noted. "I obviously can't prove anything until some evidence turns up, but I just hope I can determine the facts before I lose more of my real allies."_

Meanwhile, at the top of the waterfall, Erica was confronting Gary as Riddle watched on.

"Gary, we are SO lucky Corey didn't find anything on Exile." Erica said. "If she found the real idol out there, she would have played it and sent one of us home!"

"Isn't the idol Riddle found the real one?" Gary asked.

"We don't know that!" Erica said.

"Gary, the puzzle of this being the real idol is still unsolved. The next time we get the chance, one of us needs to go to Exile." Riddle explained, briefly showing the idol he had earlier found. "If we can find the other idol out there, at least we'll have the assurance that one of them is indeed the real one."

"Okay. Sorry about that." Gary shrugged. "I just assumed that the one we had was the real one."

Erica sighed. "Never assume in this game."

"_Part of me wonders if Gary's even paying attention to what's going on around him. I know he's laid-back, but there's such a thing as taking it too far." Erica muttered. "Did he seriously forget that there's a fake idol in play and we may have it? He says that he didn't, but I admit that I'm thinking otherwise."_

"_We got lucky, and I'm not sure if we'll get another chance like that again. We need to make certain that we win the next Reward Challenge so one of us goes to Exile." Riddle said. "I know we'll be targeted before too long, so having the real idol would be a real help."_

"Anyways, we need to keep whittling away at the other alliance." Riddle said. "Amy and Angela are the two strongest, so we should target them first."

"And they're both jury threats since they're part of the big alliance." Erica added. "Which one should we go after first, though?"

"It's a hard call. We'll have to see which one has a more-threatening performance at the Immunity Challenge."

"Fine with me." Gary shrugged.

"_I don't care who we go after. I just go with the flow. I'll admit that I got a little absent-minded back there, so it's something I suppose I'll have to watch." Gary noted._

Meanwhile, Angela was walking through the camp, looking around for someone. Spotting her target, Samantha, sitting by the shelter, Angela wandered over.

"Something I can help you with?" Samantha asked with a sigh.

"Look, I'll keep it short because I know you're liable to not care what I say." Angela said. "We both know that you don't like any of the people from your tribe."

"I tolerate them as best as I can, I suppose." Samantha said.

"I know that you want to whittle down the numbers of opposing alliance, but have you forgotten that there's a big alliance on your tribe as well?"

Samantha scoffed. "You kidding? I'm trying to get Kendall to realize that."

"_Man. Angela comes up to me and starts talking about stuff I already know. If she wants to get the message across, she needs to talk to Kendall." Samantha said. "Believe me, I want to whittle away at Riddle's alliance before we take out all the Ventalas because I know that at that point it'll be impossible to take the others down."_

"Angela, you're preaching to the choir here. Kendall's the one you want to talk to." Samantha said.

Angela folded her arms. "You of all people know he's not going to listen to me."

Samantha shrugged. "Also true." She admitted. "Look, since both alliances are even-numbered, I'll think about it and try to get it through to Kendall, alright?"

"It's probably the best I can ask for at the moment." Angela nodded as she turned and left.

"_While Amy and Brock are trying to determine who voted Corey out, it's doing nothing for our current predicament." Angela admitted. "I need to secure some votes, and even though Samantha didn't confirm anything, I suppose it's better than nothing. However, if this backfires and it takes out all of us, then I'm not going to let her live her decision down."_

As Samantha was talking to Angela, Kendall was also talking to someone, although for different reasons.

"Look, we know that you're the one that voted for Corey." Kendall said. "It's best that you join us now before the others realize it was you."

"Why is everyone assuming I was the one to vote her off?" Danglars demanded. "And even still, why the heck would I join you after everything you've done?"

"Because you're pretty much out of options." Kendall said with a smirk. "When the others see that you backstabbed them, they'll gun for you right away. I'm sure of it."

"It wasn't me!"

"You can keep denying it, but we all know it to be true."

"_Danglars is persistent, but I need another alliance member, and one that I can actually control. It's obvious that Samantha won't do as I say, so I need a backup." Kendall said. "If I can rope in Danglars, it'll give me an advantage over Samantha in case she decides to double-cross me."_

As Danglars walked past him, looking exasperated, Tempo watched on in amusement.

"This could be easier than I thought." Tempo said with a smirk.

Night eventually rolled in. The Survivor Tribe, knowing that there would be a challenge the following day, decided to go to bed in preparation for it.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 27)**

"It's actually a little quieter around here, now that I think about it." Amy scratched her head.

"Don't try to put a positive spin on this, Amy." Angela warned.

"I'm not. I just…Never realized how much Corey talked, you know?"

"_I'm trying to take the loss in stride, and I honestly thought that the rest would do some good for Angela as well. Guess I was wrong." Amy sighed. "Still, we're going to have a challenge today and I, for one, am going into it ready for it."_

"So have you thought about the vote at all?" Amy asked. "If you ask me, I think Danglars turned on us."

"I still say it was Tempo." Angela insisted.

"But what would Tempo have to gain from voting against us?" Amy asked.

"Why would Danglars betray us after gaining our trust?" Angela countered.

"_I'm aware that we don't really have enough evidence to pin the blame on anyone just yet, but I'm confident that the chance will present itself when the time arrives." Angela folded her arms. "Still, my alliance seems to be disagreeing on who to trust. I don't really like that."_

As the two women were talking, Kendall was off to the side, having a talk with Riddle.

"Just letting you know that I suspect that Tempo was voting against you." Kendall said.

"Wait. How would you know that?" Riddle asked.

"Because I know that Danglars voted with us to get rid of Corey." Kendall explained.

"I…Find that unlikely."

"Whatever. Just remember that, when Tempo comes to stab you in the back, don't blame me."

"_I don't really know if Kendall is serious about thinking that Tempo voted against us or if he's just trying to get us to turn on him." Riddle folded his arms. "You'd think we'd be used to him and his ideas by now, but apparently he can still take us by surprise."_

"We've got treemail." Danglars said as he walked into camp.

"Great. I was starting to get bored." Erica noted. "What's it say?"

"It's wondering if we're any good with mazes."

"Seems pretty straightforward, but then again, we know that nothing's really straightforward here." Erica sighed.

"_I'm usually good with mazes, but knowing this game, it's never that simple. All I can do is hope it's still a challenge I can overtake the stronger players in." Erica said. "As long as it doesn't involve anything physical, I'm good."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The ten remaining players emerged from the jungle and walked out onto a clearing. Seeing the tribe mat on the ground, everyone walked over and stepped on so they could begin.

"Welcome to your next Reward Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your abilities to get through a maze." SSBFreak explained. Everyone saw ten large walls behind the host, each one set up with a long, intricate maze with lots of wrong turns. "You will each be attached to one of these mazes by the hand and your goal is to get from the starting point to the middle of the maze, which is the only place on the entire maze where it's possible to remove your hand from the maze wall. There are a lot of wrong turns and it's easy to lose your way. The first person to get to the middle of the maze and free their hand will win Reward, which is a day-long trip to a tropical location of the island, separated from everything else."

The contestants looked a little indifferent, knowing that anyone could win at a challenge like this.

"If you'll all choose a maze, we'll get you hooked up and we can begin."

**(Later…)**

The ten players were lined up at individual mazes, their wrists connected to a strap that was stuck in the crevice of the maze. The shorter players, Kendall, Brock and Erica, were given sets of stairs so they could reach the top parts of their mazes.

"Okay. For Reward, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

All ten players took off, dragging their trapped hands along as they ran. Although everyone started off going in the same direction, they all split off when they came across a fork in the maze. Needless to say, a few people ran into a dead end quickly, and a few more went down a longer route before also hitting a dead end.

"Crap! I gotta go back now." Danglars shook his head.

Brock climbed up a couple of the provided steps to reach a higher part of the maze. "Too bad I'm not allowed to fly here." He muttered. "I'd get up there so quickly…"

The contestants continued to go through the maze, everyone cursing their luck when they hit a dead end. They were all simply paying attention to their own mazes so they didn't see how everyone else was doing.

"It's definitely a tight race. Everyone appears to be making a few mistakes." SSBFreak announced. "It's hard to tell who's closest to winning at the moment."

The game continued and everyone was still having trouble. Angela ran into a dead end, and when she tried backtracking, she ran into another one. She cursed her luck. "Which way did I come from? I can't be too far off course…"

Samantha moved her wrist around a turn and came to a fork in her maze. "Great. Both of these ways will likely have endless dead ends." She sighed before taking her chances and moving her wrist down one of the paths.

"Riddle, since you're into puzzles, how would you say your chances are here?" SSBFreak asked.

"So long as I have concentration, I'm confident." Riddle explained simply. "Let's just leave it at that, shall we?"

"Fair enough." SSBFreak shrugged. "Brock, are you at a disadvantage?"

"A little bit. If I were allowed, you'd bet I'd simply fly up to the top and move my hand around that way." Brock explained.

"That may be so, but we don't want any cheaters."

"I know."

"Wait. You can fly?" Erica asked Brock. She didn't get an answer.

The players continued to go through the mazes, although some people looked a little closer to reaching the middle of the maze than others. While some were making progress, others were still getting stuck at dead ends.

"This isn't going as well as I was hoping." Amy muttered.

"Come on. Come on." Kendall said as he looked at where he would be going next.

"Gary, how are you handling this challenge when it doesn't involve strength?" SSBFreak asked.

"I don't really know, but I'll just take what I can get as I go." Gary replied. "If I don't win, it wouldn't surprise me, but I'm making a bit of leadway here."

"Seriously, why are you even ASKING him anything?" Tempo asked flatly. "You know he's always going to answer like that."

"Never hurts to be optimistic." SSBFreak shrugged. "Angela, you don't look very pleased."

"How could I be pleased? I've spent way too long running into dead ends. I'm probably too far behind to catch up at this point." Angela replied.

"You never know. It seems that a number of people are struggling."

"Keep thoughts like that to yourself, will you?" Danglars asked.

The contestants continued to work their way through their mazes. As time went on, some people were starting to build a bigger lead while others continued to fall behind. The ones that were pulling ahead were starting to feel a little more comfortable with the maze.

"Okay. This isn't as bad as I thought at first." Riddle noted as he moved his hand around another turn. "I'm getting close to the middle…"

"Just a little further…" Erica muttered. "I can actually do this."

"Samantha, you seem to be one of the people having trouble. What seems to be going on?" SSBFreak asked.

"Mazes this big don't seem to have an end in sight no matter how much we try to look at the road ahead." Samantha shook her head. "I'm surprised people are actually getting close."

Kendall climbed up onto the maze a little higher and ran his wrist around a corner he couldn't reach. He quickly ended up at a dead end. "Ugh. Just my luck." He cursed himself as he started to backtrack.

Danglars scratched his head with his free hand as he ended up at another dead end. "Didn't I already come to this part?" He asked.

Tempo remained focused and moved his hand around a corner without stopping. He promptly ran into a dead end, jerking his wrist to a halt. "Crap." He said as he started to work his way back. "I was on a roll for a bit."

Angel growled as she hit another dead end. "How many more of these am I going to hit?" She asked herself. "I must have taken every wrong turn I could have taken."

The ten contestants continued on their mazes, starting to look a little frustrated at how things were going. It was clear that they just wanted to finish the challenge, but they knew that it was coming down to the wire at this point.

"Some of you are getting close. That's all I'll say in the matter." SSBFreak piped up.

"That pretty much eliminates me." Danglars said. "There's no way I can catch up, now."

"I can do this. It's almost there…" Amy mused.

Seeing that they still hadn't been making too much progress on their mazes, some of the contestants simply stopped trying and instead focused on the three players that appeared to be winning.

"It looks like a lot of the players are dropping out. It appears to be between Erica, Amy and Tempo, but Riddle is catching up." SSBFreak said.

"This is a challenge I can win." Erica muttered. "I'm not going to lose."

"Come on. Just a few more turns and I should be in the middle…" Tempo said hopefully.

The remaining people continued to go through the maze, and some of the people that had fallen behind instantly picked up the pace and tried going through the maze fast, only to suddenly stop at a dead end, putting even more distance from them and the leaders.

Eventually, after several long moments, one of the three competing players got their hand to the middle of the maze and was able to free themselves, stepping away from the maze to show the success.

Amy and Tempo could only look on as Erica walked away victoriously.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Erica wins Reward!"

"I wasn't about to blow that chance." Erica said.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Erica. For winning, you will get to go to the tropical location for the day and will rejoin us tomorrow at Immunity." SSBFreak said. "Now, you can choose one person who you'd like to go with you."

"I'll take Gary." Erica said without hesitation.

"And you can also send someone to Exile Island."

"That would be Riddle." Erica said, still without hesitation. Riddle seemed to smirk.

"Okay. Erica and Gary will be going on the Reward trip while Riddle will be going to Exile Island for the day." SSBFreak said. "They will all join up with the rest of you at tomorrow's challenge, but for now, you can head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"Man. Now the other alliance is probably going to find the idol and get an advantage over us." Brock said.

"You know what? This could actually be good." Amy said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Brock asked. "Riddle got sent to Exile Island and someone of his intelligence would likely have no problem finding the idol after this long."

"Here's the thing, though. Erica and Gary are gone as well." Amy explained. "The entire power alliance of Ferren isn't here."

Angela seemed to get the idea and smirked. "So we'll have no competition in trying to sway swing votes." She finished.

"Right."

"But it won't do us any good if Riddle gives the idol to someone!" Brock insisted.

"Then we'll just have to make him waste it." Amy replied.

"_The fact that Riddle, Gary and Erica are all gone from camp for the day means that we've got a little leadway with the swing votes." Amy explained. "They aren't going to be around until tomorrow's challenge, which gives us even more time. Now we just have to worry about trying to convince the swing votes to vote with us."_

"_Am I the only one that doesn't really see a way we can win, here? Riddle's gotta be the smartest person left, and if he has the idol, he'll give it to whoever we're targeting." Brock said. "If we DO manage to make him waste it, who's to say that he won't just find the idol again?"_

Meanwhile, Danglars had gone to confront Tempo across camp, away from everyone else.

"Tempo, why aren't you saying anything?" Danglars asked. "Everyone thinks that I'm the one that voted off Corey and I KNOW it was you that did!"

"You don't feel honoured that you're being considered a mental threat?" Tempo asked.

"Dude, I spent a lot of time trying to get in good with Angela's alliance!" Danglars reminded. "The fact that you're not coming forward about you voting out Corey is ruining it!"

"Sorry, Danglars. I don't want to be labeled as a threat. Believe me, it's not personal." Tempo sighed. "It's just how things went."

Danglars paused, then sighed. "You suck, man." He said.

"_So Tempo isn't going to help bail me out and I need to convince everyone else that I'm innocent while Tempo denies everything." Danglars sighed. "I need to get them to see the truth soon, or else Tempo's just going to have an easy ride to the finals."_

"_I feel bad about throwing Danglars under the bus like this, but the opportunity came up and I took it. Like I said, it isn't personal." Tempo admitted. "Of course I'll try to keep him around longer, if only to keep the attention off of me."_

**(Tropical Location)**

"Wow. This is actually pretty nice." Erica said as she looked around the tropical beach where she and Gary were dropped off.

"Yeah. Nice change of pace from the beaches where the challenges are." Gary nodded.

"_I won the challenge and decided to bring Gary since I knew sending Riddle to Exile would give us the best chance at finding the idol." Erica noted. "Frankly, I don't really trust Gary enough to send the right person to Exile. We may just end up with a repeat of what happened at the last Reward Challenge."_

"You think Riddle will find the idol?" Gary asked as he sat down by the beach, looking out at the sunset.

"I hope so. I just want to find out if the idol we already have is the real or the fake one." Erica said. "You think that, if we can play the real one, the others would be fooled if we plant the fake one again?"

"I doubt it. When we play the idol, they'll see what it looks like." Gary shrugged. "And you said there was an idol usage pre-merge on Ventala."

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"_I try to remain optimistic about things, but I know trying to fool someone with a fake idol after playing a real one wouldn't work." Gary pointed out. "I'm sure that some of the others have seen the real idol before, and if we plant a fake one that doesn't look like the real thing, it'll do nothing for us in the long run."_

"At the moment, we need to decide on a target. Angela and Amy are the strongest left other than you, so we may want to start with them." Erica said. "We shouldn't have a problem getting Kendall's vote since he seems intent on voting out all of Ventala."

"Don't you see something seriously wrong with that, though?" Gary asked.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Erica shrugged. "In this game, you take what you get."

"_If Riddle finds the idol, then we'll basically have a free pass. If we can't get the votes, we'll figure out who they're targeting and use the idol to nullify the votes." Erica explained. "If we DO get the votes, then we can keep the idol in play for another round. Basically, it's all coming down to Riddle…"_

**(Exile Island)**

"Here I am again. It's just as lifeless as I remember it." Riddle shook his head. "Well, time to find that idol…"

"_Erica sent me to Exile Island, which was the plan for the challenge. If I can find the idol out here, then it'll at least give me some comfort in knowing I have the real one for a fact." Riddle explained. "Of course, I'm worried that the idol isn't here, or maybe Corey DID find it and gave it to someone else before she left. I suppose I won't know until I find it."_

Riddle plucked the clue from the treemail box and inspected it. He scanned around Exile and set his sights on a trio of trees that were forming the shape of a triangle.

"Hmm…That would be too easy." Riddle said as he wandered over and stepped into the middle of the three trees before he started digging.

Riddle started digging as time continued to pass. After what seemed like an eternity, Riddle managed to find something. Reaching down, Riddle picked up an idol that was buried in the sand.

Riddle smiled and sighed in relief. "I'm glad that's over. That's a real load off my shoulders." He said as he climbed out of the hole he had dug.

"_I found the idol that was buried here, and that's good because it means I have both the fake and the real one with me. There's no alternative." Riddle said. "Now comes the tricky part: Figuring out which of the two is indeed the real one. I know it would hardly matter since I could play them both if I wanted to, but I would still like to know."_

Riddle sat in the provided shelter and inspected the two idols he had. He looked over them both, trying to determine which one was the real one.

"They don't look anything alike, for starters. Whoever made the fake obviously didn't have a reference." Riddle noted. "But…They both look like they could have been handcrafted…This is a tough one…"

"_I'm not worried about going anywhere, but the problem remains that I've got a fake idol in my hands and I can't give it to anyone else or they would know it's a fake." Riddle said. "This includes the people of Ventala because I know an idol was used there pre-merge. They may know which of these is the real one when I don't."_

Night eventually rolled in. The ten players decided to go to bed in anticipation for the Immunity Challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 28)**

"_All yesterday, the Ventala alliance came to us with the intent on getting our votes. I'm all for joining them and taking out the Ferren alliance." Samantha said. "However, Kendall, the idiot he is, is intent on taking out all of Ventala before he does anything else. I don't have to tell you how stupid of an idea that is."_

"You have no idea how much your idea sucks, do you?" Samantha asked.

"It's best for me to get rid of the others now." Kendall assured. "Then the others will pick themselves off by not seeing me as a threat."

"And then you'll end up facing a jury of people who hate your guts." Samantha folded her arms.

"I'm sure my gameplay is better than anyone on Ferren's."

"You wish. So what exactly's stopping me from simply going to the other side and voting against you?"

"Because the instant you do, I'll vote you out." Kendall threatened.

"_I know my way around this game and Samantha thinks she had more power than she does. There's no way people would keep her over me." Kendall said. "She really doesn't have much of a choice but to stay with me, anyway."_

"We've got treemail, guys." Tempo announced as he came into camp with a letter.

"Time for Immunity." Angela said with a smirk. "What's it say?"

"It's asking how much we know about each other." Tempo replied.

"A trivia challenge?" Brock asked. "Great. Riddle and Erica have the edge."

"You never know." Amy shrugged.

"_I like to consider myself smart, but in a trivia challenge I know there are a couple of people that outclass me." Brock said. "If it involves eliminating each other in some way, I need to go after Riddle and Erica first because I know we won't have a chance against them otherwise."_

"_I'll admit that trivia was never my strong suit since I never really had the need to focus on it. However, if it's about events in the competition, I think I can do well. I've been paying attention." Angela said._

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The seven players from camp emerged from the jungle and onto a clearing. Going over to their tribe mat, everyone stepped on and waited for the challenge to begin.

"Before we start, let's bring out Erica and Gary, who are returning from their Reward, and Riddle, who is back from Exile Island." SSBFreak explained.

The players remained silent as the three Ferren players returned from opposite sides and joined the line to form ten contestants.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be seeing what you think about your other contestants." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw a long table behind him with ten dividing lines. "I will ask you a series of questions with no real answers and give you two options to choose from. You pick one of those two options and hope the majority of the others picked the same as you. At each question, the minority will be eliminated and will keep going until we have one person left. This person will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

Knowing that it wasn't a real trivia challenge put some of the players at ease. That being said, everyone was still nervous.

"If you'll all choose a station, we can begin." SSBFreak explained.

The ten players walked up to the long table and stepped behind a lined section. The dividing lines were tall enough so no one could see what the person beside them was doing.

"Okay. For Immunity, here's the first question." SSBFreak said before beginning the challenge. "Who is more-likely to waste the money if he or she wins in the end? A: Danglars or B: Erica."

The ten players voted and showed their answers. There was a clear majority by far. So clear that there was only one different answer.

"And Danglars is the majority answer." SSBFreak said. "Danglars is the only one out."

"Thanks a lot, guys." Danglars said. "I know I could spend better than you guys think."

Danglars left the table as the challenge continued. "Here's the next question: Who is more-likely to plan on killing you when your back is turned? A: Kendall or B: Samantha." SSBFreak said.

The nine remaining players wrote down their answers and showed their cards. While it was closer than the last question, the majority still won 6-3.

"It looks like Samantha is the majority answer. Samantha, Tempo and Amy are out." SSBFreak said.

"You guys are lucky I can't show you how right you all are." Samantha muttered to herself as she followed Tempo and Amy off the field.

"Here's the next question." SSBFreak said. "Who is stronger? A: Angela or B: Gary."

The votes were divided this time, although it would have been closer if one of the competing alliances hadn't lost some of its members.

"It seems that it's Ventala against Ferren for this one, but it's still 4-2 and Gary is the majority answer." SSBFreak said. "Angela and Brock are out."

"Too bad Amy was out. We could have tied it." Brock said as he followed Angela away from the table.

"Here's question number four." SSBFreak said. "Who looks like they would be more-successful later in life? A: Amy or B: Gary."

The remaining four players held up their answers and Erica was the only one that had said Gary.

"Amy is the majority answer and Erica is out."

Gary shrugged. "I think she looks like she'll be successful." He reasoned as Erica walked off.

This left Riddle, Gary and Kendall fighting it out for the win. "Here's question five. Who would you trust with important information? A: Angela or B: Riddle."

The three men wrote their answers down and showed them. Riddle and Gary were both holding up A's while Kendall was holding a B.

"Angela is the majority answer. Kendall is out."

"I thought Riddle would have voted for himself…" Kendall muttered as he walked off.

"Okay. It's down to Gary and Riddle. It's time to end the challenge with a numerical question. Whoever gets the closest to the correct number without going over will win Immunity." SSBFreak explained. "How many votes have been cast so far this season UP UNTIL the merge?"

Riddle and Gary paused in thought for a moment, trying to remember the vote tally. After a moment, they wrote their answers down and showed them. Gary had guessed 80 while Riddle had guessed 60.

"The correct answer is 73. Gary may be closer, but he went over!" SSBFreak announced. "That means that Riddle wins Immunity!"

Riddle sighed in relief. "That was almost too close." He said.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Riddle. You have a one-in-nine shot at winning the game." SSBFreak said as he gave the Immunity Necklace to Riddle.

"Thank you. It's good to have it." Riddle said.

SSBFreak turned to the others. "Riddle is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing all of you at Tribal Council tonight where another one of you will be voted out of the game." He explained. "As always, you can have the rest of the day to make your decision, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Riddle won Immunity, which isn't good for us because not only is he a huge mental threat, but we're also betting that he's got the Hidden Immunity Idol." Amy folded her arms. "He can give the idol to someone on his alliance, which means we need to pick a target he doesn't expect."_

"What are the chances that Riddle found the idol?" Brock asked.

"I'd say it's almost a sure thing." Amy said. "So what do you think we should do?"

"…He's expecting us to target Gary, right?" Angela asked.

"Yeah. The challenge threats are almost always targeted after the merge." Brock nodded.

"So why don't we target Erica?" Angela asked. "If Riddle gives the idol to Gary, he'll have wasted it."

"_We can get Riddle to waste his idol if we can get him to think that we're going after the wrong person. We just need a few more votes." Angela said. "If we get Danglars and Tempo to vote with us, then the vote's at least tied, and all it would take for us to get by is Samantha's vote, which I know she's willing to help us with."_

Meanwhile, the Ferren alliance was across camp, discussing plans for council.

"I'd be willing to bet anything that they know you have the idol, Riddle." Erica said. "They're going to try and make you use it on one of us."

"While at the same time targeting the other. I figured that." Riddle nodded. "I don't suppose either of you have an idea as to how they're voting, do you?"

"No. None of us were at camp all day yesterday." Gary supplied.

"_Because none of us were at camp, we don't know how the other alliance is going to vote tonight. We know they're going to make Riddle use the idol, but we don't know how." Erica said. "If we can just figure out who they're really targeting, we should be able to nullify their votes no problem."_

"You guys think they'll get the others to vote with them?" Erica asked. "I mean, maybe we don't even NEED the idol."

"Everyone likely knows that I found the idol and I'm sure that the others are intent on getting rid of it as fast as they can." Riddle explained.

"But who do we target in case it works?" Erica asked. "Amy or Angela?"

"That's a question I think I know the answer for. Amy's not only a challenge threat, but she's nice as well." Riddle said. "I'm unsure if Angela would get enough votes in the end to win."

Gary shrugged. "I'm okay with it. We just need to hope we use the idol on the right person."

"_We're taking a gamble by using the idol. I just need to keep my ears open at council and make sure I know who they're targeting." Riddle said. "All I know is that I'm using the idol tonight, but I still need to solve the riddle of who I'm going to use it on…"_

**(Tribal Council)**

The ten remaining players walked into Tribal Council, carrying lit torches. Finding a seat on one of the stumps provided, everyone sat down and waited for the night's council to commence.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak said. "Although at the moment, that's only Corey, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

A familiar cheery cowgirl walked into council, waving to the others as she did. Everyone saw that her hair was now straight and she was wearing a knee-length black dress. Corey walked over to the jury bench and sat down alone.

"Corey is only here to observe the outcome of the council. She will not address you and you are not to address her." SSBFreak said before he started asking questions. "Angela, last time we were here, you lost an ally. How did that feel?"

"It's hard seeing your strategy blow up in your face like that. I was hoping to take my alliance further, but it didn't happen." Angela said.

"You guys were an alliance of four." Erica said. "We needed to pick you off before you outnumbered us."

"You only succeeded in doing so because you managed to convince the swing votes!" Angela shot back.

"Moving on. Brock, was this the first time this happened?" SSBFreak asked.

"Pretty much. Corey was basically the first member of our alliance that went and we had all gotten close to her in some form." Brock shrugged. "Her leaving left the camp a lot quieter."

"Not that that's a bad thing." Kendall smirked.

"I choose to disacknowledge your existence."

Corey couldn't help but smirk. "Heh. That was pretty good." She admitted.

"Tempo, are you one of these swings votes that Angela was talking about?" SSBFreak asked.

"Yeah, and I'm trying to choose a side as I play." Tempo said. "Danglars just didn't vote with us last time and I doubt he will again."

Danglars' eyes snapped open. "H-Hey! Don't do this to me, man! I was the one that tried to keep Corey!" He insisted. "You were the one to vote her out!"

"Danglars, I would know that it was you since I voted to keep Corey." Tempo replied.

Danglars held his head. "Why are you doing this to me?" He asked. "This isn't fair!"

"Riddle, it appears that there's some kind of disagreement going on. Anything you'd like to add?" SSBFreak asked.

"Well, the two of them had been insisting that they were the one to keep Corey, but this is the first I had heard it being taken to this level." Riddle said, eyebrow lifted. "I'm actually surprised at this."

"Amy, how do you think the vote's going to go?"

"Riddle's immune, so we can't vote for him, and we know he's got the idol." Amy said. "We're going to try and vote out a mental threat. It'll take away some of the power alliance at the same time."

Erica rolled her eyes and SSBFreak noticed. "Something you'd like to add, Erica?"

"Uh…Yeah. You just announced that you're targeting me." Erica replied. "I thought you were smarter than that."

Riddle on the other hand, appeared to be in thought before his eyes widened.

"I think that's enough questions. Before I continued, I have to ask." SSBFreak said. "Riddle, you have Immunity. Are you going to give it to anyone?"

"No. I think I'll keep it."

"With that, Riddle is safe and cannot be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Kendall, you're up."

Kendall got up and walked out of the hut, going over to the table. He gave a smirk and wrote a name down. "And the slaughter continues." He said.

Brock took a deep breath and wrote a name down. "I sure hope this works." He said as he put his ballot into the urn and left the table.

Gary wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You're a big threat. I hope you don't take this personal." He said, having voted for Amy.

Tempo approached the table silently and wrote a name down. Placing the ballot into the urn, Tempo left as quietly as he came.

Samantha gave a sigh, but also remained silent as she wrote a name down. Samantha shoved her ballot into the jar and walked away.

Danglars seemed a little depressed as he wrote a name down. "Now I'll NEVER redeem myself." He lamented as he voted and walked away with a sulk.

Angela walked up to the voting table and wrote a name down. "Now it's just a matter of time to see how Riddle plays." She said as she walked away.

Riddle wrote a name down and gave a smirk. "I can see right through this little plan." He said as he voted and walked away.

Amy approached the table and scribbled a name down. The redhead fox woman placed her vote into the urn and walked away.

Erica was the last to vote. She showed her ballot to the camera. "Telling us who you were voting for was stupid." She said, having voted for Amy.

Once all ten players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained. "It's time to-"

"Just a minute."

Everyone turned to Riddle, who fished an idol (the first one he originally found) from his shirt. "I know what your plan is. You said that you were voting for Erica, but you want to trick me and want me to give the idol to her. Well, I'm giving it to Gary." He said as he handed the idol a few seats back to Gary.

Gary seemed surprised. "Wow. That's a surprise." He said as he walked up to the host and handed the idol over.

SSBFreak examined the idol for a few seconds before accepting it. "This is indeed the Hidden Immunity Idol. All votes cast against Gary are now void." He said as Gary returned to his seat.

"So we DID have the real one originally." Erica said with a smirk.

"It's now time to read the votes." SSBFreak said.

"…First vote; Erica." Riddle's eyes widened.

"Erica. She leads with two." "Fooled you into using the idol, didn't we?" Angela asked with a smirk.

"Amy." Amy looked a little nervous.

"Amy. We're tied at two." Erica folded her arms, knowing that it could be close.

"…Erica." Riddle's alliance looked nervous.

"Erica. She leads 4-2." Erica could only hope she didn't get more votes.

"Amy." Amy bit her lip.

"Amy. We're tied at 4." Amy and Erica exchanged glances.

"…Amy." The council was deathly quiet as the votes were read. "Final vote, second member of the jury and eleventh person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Amy. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Amy sighed as Angela looked visibly frustrated. "Well, we got Riddle to waste the idol. I guess that's a plus." She said as she stood up, grabbed her torch and brought it forward.

"Amy, the tribe had spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Amy's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Don't let them get the better of us, guys." Amy called out as she walked out of council and vanished from sight.

Once Amy was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "Amy is gone and tonight's council proves that apparently nothing has changed since the last one despite all of the attempts to get swing votes." He explained. "There are only nine of you left, and I assure you that the game's only going to get harder. I'll be seeing you all very soon at the next challenge, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

The nine remaining players stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council. Angela brought up the rear, starting to look mad. Over the course of six days, she had lost two allies to some swing votes that couldn't choose a side. She made a mental note to uncover all of the truths she could, and do it fast…

"_I wish I could have done better, but I'm glad I was able to last as long as I did. I did well and I was voted out because I was labeled a threat." Amy said before sighing sadly. "I'm going to miss playing the game, but part of me is glad that I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I just have to hope that my alliance manages to pull through for me."_

**Voting History:**

**Amy – Erica, Gary, Kendall, Riddle, Samantha and Tempo**

**Erica – Amy, Angela, Brock and Danglars**

**Author's Notes: And so Amy's time is up and she is the next person to go. I cast Amy as the biggest "voice of reason" for Angela's alliance and to be a level-headed player that knew what she was doing. However, her going early merge is mainly for story-related reasons and you can probably imagine how her going now is going to affect the next episode's story for a few people.**

**(Ponderosa)**

A limo drove up the long driveway to the jury house. The back door opened and Amy stepped out, looking at the vast mansion in awe.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Amy said as she walked up to the door. "It's going to be great living here for the next ten days!"

"_I got voted out, which I'll admit left me feeling a bit bitter. That all seemed to vanish when I saw where I would be staying." Amy said. "It's like being on vacation after spending almost thirty days on a deserted island."_

Amy walked through the front door and looked around at the huge foyer of the mansion. Before she could take any of it in, a familiar figure swept her up into a hug.

"Boy, it sure is great ta see someone else here, Amy! Ah was getting' lonely after three days, even though Ah had the camera guys ta talk to!" Corey said as she hugged Amy. "Ah mean, Ah'm sorry that y'all got eliminated like that, but Ah'm glad that the next person that came was one of mah friends!"

Amy gasped for breath, but couldn't help but chuckle at the bone-crushing hug. "N-No problem. It's good to see you again, Corey." She said.

Corey quickly released Amy. "Oh, sorry 'bout that! Y'all're probably hungry, aren't ya?" She asked. "The kitchen's this way."

"_Ah was a little upset seein' Amy git voted out like that, but that meant that Ah'd spend a couple of days with someone Ah liked." Corey shrugged and laughed. "Man, she musta been hungry, because she was all over that buffet we had."_

"Uh…You chose a room with a bunkbed?" Amy asked.

"Yeah! Hey, d'ya wanna room with me?" Corey asked.

"Uh…Thanks, but I think the bunkbed might be a little small for me." She admitted, trying to find an excuse. "I'll take a bed in one of the other rooms."

Corey shrugged. "Suit yerself." She said. "So what's goin' on? From what Ah heard, y'all couldn't figure out who voted me and and who tried ta keep me."

"Meh. Danglars and Tempo kept insisting that they were the ones to try and keep you." She replied. "In all honesty, I'm suspecting that Danglars is lying."

"Ya sure, partner? He looked really down when Tempo called him out." Corey scratched her head. "If y'all ask me, Ah'd say Tempo was tryin' ta pin blame or something. Ah mean, one time an old acquaintance of mine tried to frame me fer somethin' Ah didn't do and the only one that believed me was mah dad. And then after mah dad had a talk with the guy, he came clean and was sportin' a couple of black eyes, a few broken ribs and a missin' pancreas."

Amy was in the middle of taking a drink of water, which was promptly sprayed across Corey's face. "Did…Did you just say the guy lost his PANCREAS?"

"Yeah. Mah dad even keeps it as a trophy." Corey said, wiping her face off. "Ah mean, it's not like he took the guy's spleen or kidneys or somethin' he uses, right? Ah mean, what the heck does a pancreas even DO? It's gotta be the most-useless body part ever created, but it sure it fun ta say, ain't it? Pancreas. Pancreas. Pancreas."

"I get it!" Amy said flatly.

"_Corey's a good person and all, but I've forgotten how much she talked. Her little stories may have amused some people, but to most of us, they dragged on for way too long." Amy said before smirking and looking at the cameraman. "By the way, how did you manage to put up with her for the last three days all by yourself?"_

_The cameraman's response was to toss something into view, which Amy caught with both hands. She saw that it was a roll of silver tape._

"_Duct tape." The cameraman replied with a sigh. "Lots and lots of duct tape."_


	12. Days 29 to 30

**(Survivor Tribe)**

Brock sighed as he walked over to the shelter, where Angela was sitting silently. "Well, that really didn't end well…" He said. "Now it's just the two of us."

Angela remained silent as Brock looked her over. Brock tilted his head in confusion.

"Um…Angela?"

Angela cast a dark glare at Brock. "I'm going to take apart them all." She said.

"_I lost my second ally, and as you might assume, I don't take losses like this very well. Call it overreacting if you wish, but this is serious to me." Angela said. "Half of it is me feeling ashamed for leading Corey and Amy to their demise and wanting to avenge them. Thankfully, I know how to do that here: Take out everyone responsible."_

"How are we going to do this, now? It's just the two of us." Brock explained.

"We still have Danglars, and the swing votes may not see us as threats since the Ferren alliance outnumbers us, now." Angela folded her arms.

"You really think Danglars is innocent, do you?"

"I know it for a fact."

"_Angela's pretty scary when she gets mad, but in a strange way, that makes her more determined of a player." Brock said with a half-chuckle. "It's just too bad that it takes a blindside like this to bring out this side of her."_

Meanwhile, Kendall was again looking pleased with himself. Samantha still wasn't looking amused.

"It's only a matter of time, now." Kendall said. "The alliance is in a minority, so picking off the other Ventalas should be a breeze."

"You've never listened to me when I've said that this is a stupid idea, and I doubt you're going to start now." Samantha said as she walked away.

"_Blindsiding Ventala two times has inflated Kendall's ego to sizes that makes me really want to pop his balloon and bring him plummeting back down." Samantha said. "Honestly, now that the Ventala alliance is down to two members, I have no intention of sticking with this plan of Kendall's, but he doesn't need to know that."_

Erica watched Kendall from afar and looked at Riddle. "See what we've created?" She asked. "It could have been SO easy to get rid of those two and join up with Ventala, but we HAD to whittle the other alliance down."

"I feel a bit of regret, I'll admit." Riddle nodded. "But you should know that this is for the best."

"I still have doubts." Erica shook her head.

"_Any other person and I'd be okay with taking apart the other alliance. However, since said person is evil, power-hungry and a chronic backstabber, I'm questioning the idea." Erica rolled her eyes._

The nine remaining players decided to go to bed with the intent of getting answers the following morning.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 29)**

"Okay. This is good for a start. We just need to vote out the other two and it's all good." Kendall said.

Erica folded her arms. "I don't remember bringing you into the alliance." She said as she looked at Riddle and Gary. "Do you guys?"

"I don't believe so." Riddle shook his head.

"Wasn't me." Gary added.

"So what makes you think you can boss us around, smart guy?" Erica asked.

"Because you're all toast without me." Kendall said. "You need all the votes you can get, because I assure you that none of you will win without my help."

"_I need to establish the fact that these people need my vote because I bring Samantha on board as well." Kendall said. "They'll thank me when I help take out all the Ventalas and give Ferren the majority. It's sure to get me some votes, at least."_

Kendall walked off and Erica turned to the others. "Can you believe that guy?" She asked. "Seriously, why can't we get rid of him? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd prefer to have Samantha around over him right now."

"I get what you're saying, Erica. He's far too persistent for my liking as well." Riddle said. "However, we cannot deny that he's helping us at the moment. The Ventala alliance is crumbling and we'll have the edge before Kendall realizes what he's helped do."

"The three of us on our own outnumber Kendall and Samantha." Gary added with a shrug.

"_Erica doesn't like leaving things as they are, and in all honesty, it's like that for me as well. However, Kendall's helping us more than he thinks." Riddle said. "We just need to keep him from going to Exile to find the idol and we can pick him and Samantha off after the swing votes are all gone."_

Meanwhile, Angela was wandering through camp, around by the bottom of the waterfall, looking around for something.

"Danglars, I know you're hiding again." Angela called out. "You know you're a terrible hider, so you may as well come out now."

Angela glanced down at the water and saw a piece of bamboo sticking out of it. The dark-skinned woman sighed. "Okay. Maybe he ISN'T terrible at hiding at times." She said as she placed her thumb over the top of the bamboo, plugging the hole.

Danglars suddenly shot out from below the water and gasped for air. Angela quickly grabbed him by the back of his shirt and held him up.

"A-Angela, don't hurt me! I swear I didn't do it!" Danglars pleaded.

"I know."

Danglars froze. "…Huh?"

"For what it's worth, I know for a fact that you aren't at fault and Tempo's blaming you." Angela said darkly. "Now that we've got that out of the way, would you like to join Brock and I and take out the ones responsible for blindsiding our allies?"

Danglars nodded shakily. "S-Sure."

"Good. Now dry yourself up." Angela said as she placed Danglars on the ground. "You'll catch cold."

"_Um…Wow. Angela…She actually believes me? That's…That's such a relief. I was afraid I'd be on my own for the rest of the contest." Danglars sighed in relief. "I don't know why Angela believes me when the others don't, but hey, I'm certainly not going to complain!"_

"_Yes, Danglars is relatively weak, but I know for a fact that he's loyal. I was unsure about him at first, but after seeing him trying to get in good with me a while back, I have second-guessed myself." Angela said. "I know he wouldn't betray me, and now I have a good, concrete ally in taking down the others."_

Meanwhile, Brock was by the shelter when he suddenly saw Samantha coming over. "You want something?" He asked.

"Yes. I want to temporarily bury the hatchet with you guys." Samantha folded her arms.

This seemed to throw Brock for a loop. "Wait. What?" He asked.

"Kendall's big plan is to take all of you Ventala players out until he's the only one left." Samantha explained. "I don't like it because it leaves me easy pickings for Riddle's alliance when it's all said and done."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

"You'll have to take my word for it. Let me just say that I hate Kendall's plan and I want out of it."

"_Kendall's so-called plan has hit a snag and he's too stupid to realize it. So before things get too one-sided, I need to form a bit of an alliance with the remaining Ventala players." Samantha said. "For one, I think I'd have better luck with them."_

"I'll help you take Riddle's alliance down, after which we'll go our separate ways again." Samantha said. "All three of them are threats in some form or another."

"Yeah. You have that. Riddle and Erica are big mental threats and Gary's a challenge threat." Brock nodded.

"_We may have gotten a bit of a second wind if Samantha's telling the truth. This would give us four votes, so we either need to get one more or get the others to split their votes somehow." Brock said. "I don't know which one's easier, but we need to make a choice fast since I don't know how much time we have."_

Riddle walked over to the fire pit and pulled out the fake idol he still hadn't played. Gary noticed. "Oh. Is that the fake idol?" He asked.

"Yes. As it turned out, the first one I found on my first trip to Exile was the real one after all." Riddle said. "Now that everyone knows what the real one looks like, I don't see any profit in keeping the fake."

With that, Riddle tossed the fake idol into the fire and let it burn.

"You thinking about the vote last night?" Gary asked, seeing how silent Riddle was.

"They took me completely by surprise." Riddle admitted. "They were anticipating me to deduce that they were targeting you, when they were in reality targeting Erica."

"Man. That's pretty smart." Gary shook his head.

"_As it turns out, we didn't need the idol last night, but even then, wasting the real idol is NOT something I was anticipating to do." Riddle said, arms folded. "The others caught me off guard and used my deduction against me, and for that I have to applaud them, but this also means that the gloves are coming off."_

"Hey! What did you just throw into the fire?" Kendall demanded as he scampered over.

"Oh. A fake idol that I found on Exile." Riddle said with a smirk. "Why? Surprised that no one ever played it?"

"But…But…How was it still in play after all this time?" Kendall asked.

"_I made that idol on, like, day eight! Did everyone who's gone to Exile seriously luck out so much that they managed to find the real one and not the easily-planted fake one?" Kendall asked. "And…Riddle burned my idol! I worked like a dog to make that thing! I wanted someone to get eliminated trying to play it!"_

"_So Kendall was the one to make the fake idol? Can't say I'm really surprised, but it's actually pretty funny that so many people have been there since him and no one's picked it up until now." Gary chuckled. "I bet he didn't see that one coming."_

Meanwhile, Tempo was walking through camp, looking for someone around the camp. Seeing Angela with Brock by the shelter, he walked over.

"Um…Guys, I'm sorry about what happened last night. Things got out of hand." Tempo said.

"I'll say." Brock replied.

"But just so you know, I'm still trying to help out with the votes. We just haven't gotten enough extra votes yet."

Angela narrowed her eyes, stood up and glared at Tempo. "Don't give me that, Tempo. I know for a fact that you haven't been voting with us." She accused.

"Uh…Wait. What?"

"Betraying me and my alliance is one thing, but you're trying to throw another ally under the bus as well." Angela said. "I hope you realize that I don't take actions like that very well."

"A-Angela, I swear that-"

"Don't you DARE lie to me again." Angela warned.

"…_Okay. This suddenly doesn't look like a good opportunity anymore. Angela flat-out told me that she knew what was really going on." Tempo said, nervously rubbing his head. "Crap, maybe I just dug myself into a deep hole that I can't get out of now…"_

"I'll leave you alone for now. When you're willing to join us for real, let us know." Angela said, although Tempo could tell that she was still mad.

Tempo quickly rushed off as Brock lifted an eyebrow. "Wasn't that a little extreme?" He asked.

"It gets the job done." Angela replied.

"I'm surprised you're even giving him the chance."

"We need the numbers now. Even I can't deny that."

"_All I can say is that I'm glad I'm on Angela's side. I don't know how this game could have ended for me if I was against her." Brock shook his head. "She may not have the best personality, but she sure knows how to win an argument."_

Night eventually rolled in. The nine remaining players went to bed, knowing that there would be a challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 30)**

"_Man. Day 30. It's hard to believe we've come this far and there's only nine days left in the competition." Danglars noted before pausing. "But there are still nine of us here. I've been trying to work out how the days are going to go up until the finale but I still can't quite get a good idea yet…"_

"Okay, so the target is Riddle, right?" Danglars asked.

"Yes. I have to admit that he's probably the biggest mental threat here." Angela nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"I just want to make sure that we're all voting for the same person." Danglars shrugged.

"We're still only three." Brock said. "You sure Tempo will vote with us?"

"I think I scared him into doing what's right." Angela shrugged.

"_Call me extreme if you wish. It makes no difference to me. I play the game how I want, and that includes making sure people vote with me." Angela said. "Tempo could be playing the swing vote if Samantha's truthful about helping to get rid of the other alliance, and I know that I'll be a tempting target if I don't have Immunity."_

Meanwhile, Riddle was talking to Erica as Gary was off getting treemail.

"I still don't trust Samantha to vote with us." Erica shook her head. "The way she's been playing up until this point, she's sure to try and vote us out."

"I know, but the big question is when she'll make the attempt." Riddle said. "The other alliance has picked up a couple of stragglers, so this may be what we need to keep Samantha with us for now."

"I hate having our fate in the hands of someone who obviously doesn't like us."

"Believe me, I know the feeling."

"_So basically we have to count on Samantha, the freaking person I've wanted out since we freaking STARTED, to vote with us when there's no guarantee." Erica rolled her eyes. "Honestly, am I the only one that sees that nothing good's going to come from this?"_

"Looks like we have some treemail, everyone." Gary said as he walked into camp with an envelope. People quickly gathered around him as he opened it.

"So what's the challenge?" Brock asked.

"It's wondering how we are at pulling heavy objects." Gary said.

Danglars moaned. "Seriously? Another of THESE challenges?" He asked.

"What are YOU complaining about?" Erica asked, eyebrow lifted.

_Riddle sighed. "Another strength challenge is something that isn't good for me considering my strength is in my mind." He pointed out. "I can only hope that there will be some sort of catch that will level the playing field a bit, but somehow, I seriously doubt it."_

_Danglars was sitting in front of the camera again, trying to make a muscle. "Man. After this long, you'd think I'd have started to build something up…" He mused._

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The remaining players emerged from the jungle and onto a clearing. Seeing their mat on the ground, they all walked over and stepped on so they could begin the challenge.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your strength and endurance at the same time." Everyone suddenly saw that there were nine large blocks sitting behind the host. "Each of these blocks weighs a hundred pounds, you will each be strapped to one by the shoulders, and your goal is simple: Haul your block further than anyone else's in the two-minute time-slot I'm giving you. The challenge doesn't get simpler than that. Whoever pulls their block the furthest will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

A lot of the remaining players looked anxious, knowing that there wasn't any special catch that could benefit the weaker players.

"If you'll all choose a block, we can begin." SSBFreak explained.

**(Later…)**

The nine players were each strapped to a hundred-pound block and prepared to start pulling. Erica and Kendall looked less than thrilled about the challenge.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready?..." SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

Like a shot, everyone started pulling on their blocks, starting the challenge. Gary easily took an early lead, but Angela was right behind him. Tempo and even Brock got off to good starts while Samantha was just behind them. The other four were at the back, although Danglars appeared to be doing the best out of them.

"You don't appear to be trying very much." Kendall noted to Erica, who hadn't even budged her block yet.

"Neither have you." Erica countered. "Besides, how do YOU think we'd fare in a challenge like this?"

"Touche."

Angela hauled the block she was strapped to forward a couple more feet. Gary was still ahead of her, but only just. This seemed to fuel the fire to keep Angela determined. The dark-skinned woman continued to haul her block forward, attempting to drag it further each time.

Gary glanced over his shoulder and saw Angela coming up behind him. "You're looking pretty determined, Angela." He said. "You think you can win."

"I know I can, and don't you dare stop trying." Angela growled as she pulled again.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Gary shrugged as he returned to the challenge.

Samantha pulled her block forward again and looked ahead, suddenly seeing that Brock was beginning to put difference between him and Tempo while the two of them were leaving Samantha in the dust.

"How is that kid so strong?" Samantha muttered.

"How is that kid so strong?" Tempo echoed as he watched Brock slowly gain ground on him.

Tempo tried to pick up the pace and hauled his block a little further, but he was using too much energy just to keep himself caught up with the others. "Maybe Gary and Angela will pull a muscle or something." He mused as he kept pulling forward.

Riddle, unsurprisingly, was struggling at the back of the pack. He had only managed to pull his block a few feet, but that was still more than Erica and Kendall, whom had only managed to move a few inches.

Looking ahead, Riddle saw that Danglars, who was also struggling, had managed to get a good deal of distance away from him. "This could get to be embarrassing if I let someone like him beat me this badly." He sighed. Riddle nevertheless pulled harder in an attempt to catch his opponents.

Just ahead of Riddle, Danglars was beginning to strain against the straps attaching him to his block. He tried to pull as hard as he could, but the longer he tried, the less distance it seemed the block would go.

Danglars breathed a couple of times and pulled again, only making little ground. The people in front of him seemed too far to catch already, and he was only slightly ahead of Riddle.

"Curse my lack of muscles!" Danglars said. "I knew everything would one day work against me!"

Gary was still holding the lead, but Angela was right on his heels, slowly but surely catching up to him. Through this, Gary remained focused and tried to block everything out, not like it was hard to do when you consider that it's Gary.

Gary hauled his block forward another good distance before deciding to regain his strength. Angela tried to overtake him at that point, but was unable to and was forced to rest just before she could pass him.

"Okay, everyone! You have one minute!" SSBFreak announced.

Almost everyone seemed to pick up the pace and tried to pull their blocks even harder. While some still went that same pace, the rest pulled harder.

Brock, seeing that he was starting to catch the leaders, tried to pull harder. He was slowly gaining ground, but he still had a ways to go in order to catch Gary and Angela. That being said, he was continuing to put more and more distance between himself and Tempo.

"If I can sneak up on them, I can win the challenge." Brock told himself as he pulled harder.

At the back of the line, Erica and Kendall had still barely moved their blocks, and were in fact trying at all simply because they wanted to move it further than a few inches. It was almost comical to see the two smaller players strain against the massive weight that they were forced to pull.

"I don't even know why the heck I'm still pulling this thing." Erica said.

"Then why aren't you just giving up?" Kendall asked.

"You quit first." Erica directed.

"Not in a million years." Kendall growled as he pulled the block.

"I'm not dropping out until you do!" Erica said stubbornly. "I refuse to be the only one to drop out of the challenge!"

Riddle couldn't help but overhear the exchange and sighed with a shake of his head. He continued to pull on his weight, although he still wasn't making very much progress.

"At least there are others in the same boat as me, anyway." Riddle said as he looked ahead in amusement.

Danglars was now struggling to pull against his weight. He had since used up most of his energy and was now unable to move his weight anywhere, at least until he regained more energy, which was something he wouldn't do if he was continually expending the energy he didn't have anymore.

"What the heck happened?" Danglars panted. "Why can't I do this?"

"You've used too much energy, I believe. I doubt you'll be able to pull that thing until you regain some energy." Riddle said as he approached.

"I refuse to let a non-sentient block outsmart me!" Danglars insisted.

Riddle was tempted to ask if Danglars actually knew what non-sentient meant, but decided against it and pressed on further.

Tempo looked back as he was pulling. He was starting to tire out and that was providing Samantha with a chance to get back in the game. Samantha was still behind him, but she was starting to make up ground and she was looking determined. Tempo tried to pick up the pace and best as he could, but was beginning to struggle to hold onto the lead he had over her.

Samantha saw Tempo struggling and smirked, pressing on. "Looks like I've got a chance after all." She said as she started to catch up on Tempo's weight.

Tempo grit his teeth and pulled harder. "No way." He muttered to himself. "I'm not letting her beat me."

Gary was pacing himself at the front of the line of players, and as such wasn't pulling as hard. This provided Angela with the opening she needed to catch up, and she was quickly right beside him.

"Hmm…I'm impressed. I'm surprised you managed to catch up." Gary said.

Angela narrowed her eyes. "There's more where that came from. Watch this!"

Angela suddenly ran forward and started dragging her weight as far as she could. The added tug yanked the block along even further than normal, and it seemed to glide across the ground for a few seconds. By the time Angela stopped her most-recent attempt, she had used up most of her energy but she had gained a considerable lead on Gary.

"Angela has overtaken Gary for the lead and there's only thirty seconds left!" SSBFreak announced.

Needless to say, everyone pulled even harder after hearing the announcement. Erica, Kendall and Danglars were still getting nowhere, but Riddle was slowly managing to catch up to Danglars, who was now at an almost-standstill.

Riddle gave a smirk as he approached Danglars and slowly caught up until he was beside him. "You're running on empty, my friend." He explained.

"No way…I can…I can still do this." Danglars wheezed.

"I sincerely doubt it."

At this point, Samantha and Tempo were practically beside each other as well. Tempo had used up most of his energy like Danglars and this had allowed Samantha to catch up.

"Not so cocky now, are you?" Samantha asked.

"I could say the same for you." Tempo said. "There's no way either of us will catch Gary and Angela now."

"While that may be, I'll take a small bit of comfort in knowing that I at least beat SOME of you." Samantha replied as she hauled her weight further, easily passing Tempo.

Brock was starting to strain against the weight, but he pressed on. No one was catching up to him, so that kept him free of distractions, but even though he was gradually catch up on the leaders, he was still a ways away.

"There's only a few seconds left. I need to make this count." Brock muttered to himself as he pulled harder.

After Angela had pulled her stunt and dragged her weight a great distance, Gary decided to try the same thing and started hauling his weight, quickly catching up to Angela. However, Angela still had a bit of a lead on him and didn't seem ready to give it up.

"Just a little more and I think I can pass her." Gary mused as he pulled forward again.

Angela simply blocked out all thoughts and counted down the seconds as she pulled. Once she counted down to about ten seconds, Angela pulled forward again, hauling her block even further and taking herself well out of Gary's reach. Gary tried to catch up to Angela after the last-second move, but couldn't even get close as time eventually ran out.

"Time's up! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Because she pulled her weight the furthest, Angela wins Immunity!"

Angela finally stopped pulling her weight and looked visibly relieved. She pumped a fist into the air in victory.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Angela. You now have a one-in-eight chance of winning the game." SSBFreak explained as he handed Angela the Immunity Necklace.

"Two wins. That's pretty good so far." Angela nodded in satisfaction.

SSBFreak turned to the rest of the players. "Angela is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council where another of you will be voted out." He explained. "The game is approaching its final week, so you need to determine which of you needs to go before we reach the finals. I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decision, so you can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Angela won Immunity again, and I'm glad for her. I think she played a good game at the challenge, after all." Gary shrugged. "Riddle and Erica are intent on voting for Brock now, and Kendall approached us with similar ideas. I guess it makes sense. Brock's the strongest Ventala player left after Angela, after all."_

"You think Samantha will vote with you?" Erica asked skeptically. "I mean, it's clear that she doesn't trust you."

"Believe me, she doesn't have a choice." Kendall handwaved. "She wants to make some kind of move, but she knows that she doesn't have a chance if she goes against me."

"As long as you provide us with the votes, we're fine." Riddle said. "For now, at least."

"Taking out Ventala's been my priority, anyway." Kendall nodded.

"I'm sure you're a blast at parties." Erica rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. I'm going to tell Samantha about this, then and make sure she's on board." Kendall said as he walked off.

"_It'll be easy to pick off the Ventala players from here on in if I can keep the votes. There's only three of them left and the alliance is dwindling." Kendall said with a smirk. "So long as the others are willing to vote with me, I'll be able to get rid of them in a row and be the last Ventala player standing."_

"_I have my doubts in putting trust in Kendall, but we honestly need the votes. If you think about it, the alliances are still three-on-three." Riddle explained. "The other three are the swing votes, and we want to make sure we at least get two of the three in order to get the majority. Like I said, I have my doubts, but I remain hopeful."_

Meanwhile, the other Ventala players were gathered around the shelter, discussing the possible outcome of council.

"Samantha came to us and said she was willing to vote with us." Angela pointed out. "If she does, we'd just need one more for a majority."

"We can't be certain that she'd vote with us, though." Danglars pointed out. "I mean, for all we know, she could just be leading us on."

"Yeah. She was a pretty big sneak until Kendall roped her into an alliance." Brock agreed.

"It's all we have at this point because I seriously doubt Kendall would vote with us." Angela shook her head.

"_We're hoping that Samantha will live up to her word and vote with us instead of against us. If not, then we just have to hope that Tempo sides with us." Brock sighed. "This isn't good for me because I know I'm on the chopping block tonight. I really wish one of us would have had the idol at this point…"_

"You think we can trust Tempo, though?" Brock asked. "I mean, if what you say is true, then he's been lying to us ever since Corey got eliminated."

"I have Immunity and he's not a target tonight." Angela said with a smirk. "Part of me thinks he'd be too afraid to vote against us."

"Threatening people for votes won't get you anywhere in the game, Angela."

"Have you ever heard me threaten someone out here?"

"_Seriously, I don't ever recall actually threatening someone for a vote out here, because I know it would just make me look bad." Angela said, eyes narrowed. "Granted, I would indeed get mad if a vote didn't go my way, just like how it hasn't for the past two votes."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The nine remaining players walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Finding a spot, everyone sat down and waited for the council to commence.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak said. "Corey and Amy, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

The players watched as Amy followed Corey into Tribal Council. She didn't look much different other than the fact that she was wearing a white tank top, blue jeans and a belt. The two girls walked over to the jury bench and sat down.

"The girls are simply here to observe the outcome of the council. You are not to address them and they won't address you." SSBFreak explained before he started asking questions. "Erica, last time you were here, you voted out Amy. Care to explain the reasoning?"

"We pictured Amy as a major threat. She's strong, so that made her a challenge threat, but she's also nice enough to be a jury threat at the same time." Erica pointed out. "We figured that we needed to make a move while we still had the chance."

"And the fact that she was part of a big alliance didn't help?" Angela asked.

"Maybe a little bit, but the jury threats are always the ones to target, anyway." Erica replied.

"Brock, care to explain what's been going on at camp these past few days?" SSBFreak asked.

"Well, it's basically Ventala against Ferren with a few swings votes needing to choose a side." Brock explained. "Without the swing votes, it would be three-on-three."

"Three-on-three?"

"Yeah. Angela brought Danglars on board the alliance because she's convinced he's been voting with us." Brock explained.

"I'm still unsure about that, myself…" Amy folded her arms.

"Danglars, where do you sit in this?" SSBFreak asked.

"Words can't describe how relieved I am that Angela believed me. I was afraid no one would believe me when I said that I voted to keep Corey." Danglars said. "I mean, I had Kendall come up to me and congratulate me on blindsiding her when it wasn't even me in the first place!"

This seemed to take Kendall by surprise. "Wait. So you really DIDN'T vote Corey out?" He asked.

"Of course not! That was Tempo!"

"Aw, Ah always knew Danglars wouldn't want ta vote me out like that." Corey said with a smile.

"Tempo, anything you have to say about that?" SSBFreak asked.

"It…It wasn't personal. I really didn't want to throw Danglars under the bus like that. It's just that the opportunity for a blindside came up and I took it." Tempo admitted. "When people started suspecting Danglars for it, I just sat back quietly."

"So Angela was right after all." Amy muttered. "I'm surprised he was able to hide that so well…"

"Riddle, how do you think the vote will go tonight?"

"Like Brock said, it's a three-on-three without the swing votes. They will in turn be the ones who ultimately decide the fate of whoever they don't align with." Riddle said. "I know that the probable targets are Brock, myself and a probable Gary, but I'm afraid I don't have the answers for anything past that."

"This could be interesting." Amy noted.

"Ya got that right." Corey nodded.

"Samantha, same question. How do you think the vote's going to go?" SSBFreak asked.

"Anything's possible and the vote can go any way." Samantha said. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Okay. I think that's enough questions. Before I continue, I have to ask: Angela, you have Immunity. Are you keeping it?"

"Yes, I am."

"With that, Angela is safe and cannot be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Samantha, you're up."

Samantha got up and left the hut to go vote. She gave a smirk as she wrote a name down. "This may actually be interesting…" She noted as she voted and walked away.

Riddle walked up to the voting table and wrote a name down. "I just hope that the swing votes come through for us." He said as he walked off.

Danglars scribbled a name down and placed it into the urn. Danglars quickly left the table to return to the hut.

Brock wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You're way too smart. You'll defeat anyone in the finals." He said, having voted for Riddle.

Gary whistled a tune as he approached the table and wrote a name down. Placing the ballot into the urn, Gary turned and walked away, still whistling.

Kendall walked up to the counter and showed his vote, showing Brock's name. "I wish I could vote for Angela, but she's got Immunity." He explained.

Angela didn't even blink as she wrote a name down. "Samantha and Tempo need to come through for us here." She explained as she voted and walked off.

Erica approached the table and scribbled a name down. Placing the ballot into the urn, Erica turned and left as quietly as she came.

Tempo took a deep breath and wrote a name down. Before he could second-guess his decision, he placed the ballot into the urn and walked off.

When all nine players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." SSBFreak explained. No one spoke up about any idols. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Brock." Brock looked unaffected.

"Brock." Brock could only hope that the others would come through for him.

"…Riddle." Riddle only blinked.

"Brock. He leads 3-1." Brock took a deep breath.

"Riddle." Riddle bit his lip.

"Riddle. We're tied at three." The two in question exchanged glances.

"…Riddle. He leads 4-3." Riddle was looking extremely nervous at this point.

"Brock. We're tied at four." The council was silent, wondering how the vote had gone. "Final vote, third member of the jury and eleventh person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Brock. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Brock sighed and stood up. "So close. We almost had it." He said as he grabbed his torch and brought it to the host.

"Brock, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak explained as he extinguished Brock's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Time to prepare some questions." Brock said as he walked out of Tribal Council and vanished from sight.

Once Brock was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining eight players. "Brock is gone and the vote has shown exactly where loyalties lie, if any." He explained. "There are eight of you left, but that number will soon decrease even lower because you'll be doing this again much sooner than you think."

"What do you mean?" Erica asked.

"This council isn't over. You guys are voting out one more person tonight." SSBFreak explained. "It's time for a second Immunity Challenge."

"_Man. I'm bummed that I went out the way I did with it only being one vote away from being safe, but at least I can say that it was close." Brock explained. "Well, I suppose I did better than I thought I would, and now I'll be voting for the eventual winner, so that can't be all wrong. Ah, well. I had fun."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The remaining eight players were handed three tablets each, each of the tablets displaying a letter: A, B and C. People instantly knew what kind of challenge they'd be having.

"This Immunity Challenge will be a trivia challenge. I will ask you a series of questions, each with three possible choices, and you simply need to guess which answer the right one is." SSBFreak explained. "If you get the question wrong, you're out. The last person standing in the end will win Immunity and be safe from the next vote-off."

"Here's the first question: Which type of bear is the biggest?" SSBFreak said. "A: Polar Bear, B: Kodiak or C: Black Bear."

The players paused for a few seconds before giving their answers. No one had picked C, but there was still some division with the other answers.

"The answer is B: Kodiak. Samantha and Danglars are out." The two in question sighed and put down their tablets. "Here's the next question: In which continent would you find the country 'Suraname'?" SSBFreak asked. "A: Africa, B: Asia or C: South America?"

Everyone paused in thought for a few moments again and held up answers. No one guessed B, but there was still some difference in opinion.

"The answer is C: South America. Angela and Gary are out." This left Erica, Kendall, Riddle and Tempo still in the game. "Here's the next question: What year did the War of 1812 happen?"

Everyone stared at the host flatly. SSBFreak did a double-take at the card in his hand and tossed it away. "Sorry about that." He coughed. "Here's the real question: Which of the following is NOT a country in Africa?" He asked. "A: Tanzania, B: Timbuktu or C: Algeria?"

The remaining players thought this over for a moment before giving their answers. Tempo was the only one holding an A while the others were holding B's.

"This was a trick question. I asked for countries, but Timbuktu is a city, so that's the correct answer. Tempo is the only one out." Tempo moaned at being tricked and sat back. "Here's the final question, and it's a mathematical question, so prepare to write down your answers physically. The closest one will win: How many feet are in a total of five miles?"

The trio of Erica, Kendall and Riddle appeared to be in deep thought as they tried to calculate their answers in their heads before finally writing down their answers and showing them. Erica had written down 26,000, Kendall had written 20,000 and Riddle had written 28,000.

"The correct answer is…26,400 feet." SSBFreak said. "Erica is the closest by only 400, so she wins Immunity!"

Erica gave a sigh in relief. "Wow. That was rough." She said.

SSBFreak handed Erica the Immunity Necklace, which she quickly put on. "Congratulations on winning immunity, Erica. You have a one-in-seven chance at winning the game." He explained. "And now, without giving anyone here time to strategize, it's time to vote again. Erica is immune and can't be voted out. Samantha, you're up."

Samantha got up again and walked out to the voting table, writing a name down. She smirked again as she put the ballot into the urn.

Riddle wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You are by far a bigger jury threat than Angela. I hope the others see it as well." He said, having voted for Danglars.

Danglars approached the table and wrote a name down. Biting his lip nervously, he placed the ballot into the urn and walked away.

Gary appeared to be in thought." So…Who are we voting for?" He asked. He nevertheless wrote a name down and voted as he left the table.

Kendall was smirking as he wrote another name down. "This is good. Two-for-one." He said as he voted and walked off.

Angela wrote a name down and turned her ballot, revealing Riddle's name. "I hope this works this time. Brock paid for our mistakes." She said as she voted and left.

Erica thought over the vote for a second, but wrote a name down regardless and voted. Her job done, she turned and left the table.

Tempo was the last to vote again. He walked up to the table and wrote a name down. Taking a breath, he voted and walked away.

Once all eight players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn again and returned with it. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Riddle." Riddle paused and took a breath.

"Angela." Angela folded her arms.

"Angela. She leads 2-1." Angela narrowed her eyes as Corey and Amy watched sadly.

"Riddle." Riddle looked like he was fidgeting.

"…Danglars." Danglars did a double-take, not expecting that.

"Danglars. We're tied at two each." Angela and Danglars exchanged glances.

"…Riddle." Riddle's eyes widened, as did Kendall's. "Final vote, fourth member of the jury and twelfth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Riddle. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Riddle shook his head in disbelief, but stood up regardless. "I guess when we don't have time to talk…" He mused as he grabbed his torch and walked up to the host.

"Riddle, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Riddle's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"It has indeed been fun." Riddle said as he walked out of the hut.

Once Riddle was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "And so ends the second double-boot of the season. Both Brock and Riddle are gone, which may show that perhaps loyalty ISN'T a factor into some of these votes." He pointed out. "Each tribe has taken a hit tonight, and only time will tell us which tribe will be the one left standing in the end. You can all head back to camp."

The seven remaining players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Everyone was thinking the same thing as they all went back to camp. The Ferren Tribe had the numbers, and yet a member of Ferren was blindsided. How did that happen?

"_Playing this game was enjoyable and I was able to answer my initial question: Yes, I am indeed capable of surviving in the game for a month." Riddle said in satisfaction. "I regret that I was unable to go further, but had a good time. I did well and I'm sure others are surprised to see me last as long as I did."_

**Voting History 1:**

**Brock – Erica, Gary, Kendall, Riddle and Samantha**

**Riddle – Angela, Brock, Danglars and Tempo**

**Voting History 2:**

**Riddle – Angela, Danglars, Samantha and Tempo**

**Angela – Gary and Kendall**

**Danglars – Erica and Riddle**

**Author's Notes: With Brock, I wanted someone who could be portrayed as an early winner pick with his different plans and making side alliances with Corey and Chloe. However, all of these plans ended with a blindside, leaving Brock to start from scratch. I booted him now because I felt like he had offered all he could to the story.**

**I'd say that Riddle was fun to write for because of the riddles and questions I laced his words with. I know Riddle's shtick is that he talks in riddles, but if he was to make it past the first few boots, he needed to tone down on it to keep him from being annoying. That's why his riddles were only subtle and the only way you'd really pick up on them is if you were paying close attention. That being said, I felt that Riddle was too much of a strategy-bot with this kind of edit, so booting him here seemed like the best choice for me.**

**(Ponderosa)**

A limo drove up a driveway leading to the jury mansion and stopped at the front door. The back door of the limo opened up and out stepped the two most-recent jury members, Brock and Riddle. The two looked up at the mansion in awe.

"Man. This is some place, isn't it?" Brock asked.

"Indeed. It will be relaxing to stay here until the end of the contest." Riddle nodded.

"Too bad that's only going to be for nine more days." Brock sighed.

"_After getting over the letdown of being eliminated, you tend to realize that staying in a freaking mansion is way better than a shoddy shelter on a deserted island." Brock said with a smile. "Now that my game's done, it'll feel good to just kick back and relax."_

The two newcomers entered the mansion and saw Corey and Amy sitting on the couch in the living area. Corey waved at them. "Howdy, y'all! Great ta see you!" She said.

"I'm sure she means that without wanting to offend you not being in the game anymore." Amy added with a laugh.

"Hey, girls. Good to see you're doing fine." Brock nodded.

"We have some questions, so come over here, will you?" Amy asked.

"_I'm the first Ferren member on the jury, so there isn't really anyone I can relay information to, but the girls were nice enough." Riddle shrugged. "Perhaps I can tell them about the members of my tribe so they'll know who to vote for if no one on Ventala makes the finals."_

"Boy, we gotta lot ta ask and y'all need to answer us in any way ya can, and believe me, Ah know just how ta git information outta someone." Corey warned.

Amy chuckled. "Yes. For starters, how-"

"Ah mean, there was this one time where Ah suspected my kid brother of stealing mah hat so Ah had ta string him up by his toes until he confessed. And then there was that time where Ah suspected a neighbor of bein' a conman, but that proved ta be a fake even after Ah went through twelve days of prankin' him so he would confess." Corey rambled on.

"As I was saying, we-"

"Then there was mah little sister takin' mah underwear fer reasons Ah never really found out. All Ah know is that Ah found them after a long interrogation involving a few feathers." Corey said. "And boy! Don't git me started on-"

"Corey…" Amy said, giving Corey a stern look.

Corey paused, then looked sheepish. "Is it Quiet Time again?" She asked.

"Just for a bit. I have some questions I want to ask Brock and Riddle."

Corey sighed. "Okay." She said as she grabbed a roll of duct table from the table, ripped off a piece and slapped it over her own mouth.

Brock stared in surprise. "Amy, how the heck did you do that?" He asked.

"I've been alone with her for two days." Amy said. "I'm sure anyone would learn how to do that."

"_Corey's nice and all, but she talks way too much. While I'm glad that there are more people to talk to now, it's going to be hard getting info from them." Amy said._

"So what seems to be the big issue at camp?" Amy asked.

"Samantha came to us and said she wanted to go against Kendall." Brock explained. "I guess she's gotten tired of listening to him, not that I really blame her."

"Indeed. He's getting a bit annoying." Riddle nodded.

"What about you guys, Riddle?" Amy asked.

Riddle shrugged. "There's not really much to say. Gary's incredibly strong and nice while Erica is clearly smarter than people may think." He explained.

"Yeah. Gary could be a serious jury threat if he isn't taken out soon." Brock added.

"_The ideas for taking out people like Amy and I were that we could have become big jury threats, but they seem to forget that there's still a few of them left in the game." Brock explained. "If any of the others want to have a chance at winning, they need to take out the jury threats quickly."_

"I think Kendall's been pushing his luck for way too long." Brock said. "I really hope the others decide to get rid of him soon."

"Then he'd be coming here, though." Amy noted.

"I'd rather have him here than getting closer to the finals."

"Why? Who are you two thinking of voting for?" Riddle asked.

"Hopefully someone we like from our tribe." Amy shrugged. "We don't know you Ferren guys that much."

"Perhaps I could give a few suggestions in case your friends don't make it?"

Amy paused, then shrugged. "Why not?"

"_I suppose that, sometimes, the opportunity just presents itself." Riddle admitted._


	13. Days 31 to 33

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Well, I think that could have ended differently. First we lose Brock, but we were thankfully able to get Riddle out because the vote was skewed." Danglars noted. "While I'm curious as to who flipped, I was expecting Angela to explode the instant we got back to camp. Instead, she just went off by herself quietly."_

Angela sat at the fire pit, looking in deep thought. Danglars nervously approached her. "Um…Angela?" He asked.

"We need to figure out who was telling the truth." Angela responded.

"…Huh?"

"Tempo and Samantha both came to us. One of them voted Brock out, but voted with us to get rid of Riddle." Angela explained.

"So…Who do you think did it?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Angela cast a glance at Danglars.

"Shutting up."

"_They both have reasons to vote with us as much as they have reasons to vote against us. The trick is figuring out which one was loyal both votes." Angela folded her arms. "I intend to figure this out, and I want to do it fast so they don't get the chance to do it again."_

Meanwhile, Gary and Erica were down by the bottom of the lake, talking about the vote.

"What the heck happened there? We could have eliminated two members of the opposing alliance." Erica said.

Gary shrugged. "I thought the logical choice was Angela because she's a physical threat." He reasoned.

"That doesn't mean she's a jury threat. That's why Riddle and I voted for Danglars."

"_Well, the first part of the council went smoothly and Brock was eliminated, but because we didn't have any time to strategize for the next vote, we got outnumbered and Riddle was sent home instead." Erica sighed. "Just great. We're really in no better of a position than we were before."_

"So what do we do? There's still a chance that the swing votes won't side with us." Gary pointed out.

"Don't think I don't know that." Erica sighed. "Ugh. Riddle was the thinker of us; Why the heck did they vote him out?"

"I…Think you just answered your own question."

"…Yeah. I suppose I did."

"_I think we can bounce back. I'm optimistic, but then again, I'm always optimistic. There are at least a couple of swing votes around and we just need four votes for a majority." Gary explained. "It certainly isn't impossible, anyway. We just need the others to cannibalize themselves."_

The seven remaining players decided to go to bed. Those seeking answers would try to get them the following morning.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 31)**

"_Last night, the second vote didn't go my way. I was trying to get Angela voted out, but that just didn't happen." Kendall said. "After thinking it over, I realize that Samantha had to have voted against me. I need to tell her that it wasn't a good move."_

"Why did you vote off Riddle? It was better to vote off a Ventala!" Kendall insisted.

"It was better for YOU, twerp." Samantha folded her arms. "I told you countless times that it would do nothing but put us at a disadvantage. You act all high and mighty when a vote goes your way, but you're completely ignorant to the fact that you're nothing but dead weight without me."

Kendall narrowed his eyes. "I'm keeping you in this game, Samantha!" He snapped. "I don't suggest you going against our alliance!"

Samantha's response was to give Kendall the finger. "Already done it. The first chance I get, I'm gunning for you." She threatened.

"_Now that I feel I can get in comfortable with the others, I'll ditch Kendall and make him realize how much trouble he's in." Samantha said with a smirk. "He's been nothing but trouble to me since we first ran into each other, but I said I'd break away from him when I needed to."_

"Just remember that, as of now, I'm officially cutting the alliance, if you can even call it that." Samantha said. "Feel free to make the attempt to get more votes, because I really don't see anyone trusting you."

"You think I'm going to just lay down and wait for you to walk all over me?" Kendall demanded.

"It'll make things a lot easier." Samantha said as she turned and walked off. "See ya never."

Alone, Kendall was looking extremely mad, wondering why this was happening.

"_If Samantha thinks I'm going to actually take this lying down, she's got another thing coming. I didn't last this far for doing nothing." Kendall said. "It could take a bit, but I can still sway some votes, especially if Samantha ends up joining one of the alliances. I will make certain that she pays for this."_

Angela carried some firewood back to camp. Danglars was following her, trying to carry firewood as well but struggling to carry a couple of pieces.

Angela looked over her shoulder. "Why did you even say you would help me with this?" She asked.

"H-Hey, I don't really want to hear the excuses of the others, so this gives me something to do." Danglars assured with a weak chuckle.

Angela could only sigh.

"_Okay. Danglars has proven that he isn't as strong as he may have come across earlier. However, as I've said, he's loyal. I know I've said that strength is a big part of surviving where I come from, but loyalty helps." Angela admitted._

"So…What are we going to do?" Danglars asked. "At worst, it's 3-2 against us unless we can bring both Samantha and Tempo to our side."

"I know."

"So should we go to them for votes, then?"

"Absolutely not. That would be exactly what they want." Angela said sharply. "We don't need to lower ourselves to begging like that when it's them who should be coming to US for votes."

"Just checking."

"_Angela's a great player, but…Sometimes I'm not sure if her head's in the game all the way. She's expecting the others to come for us for votes, and I frankly don't really see that happening." Danglars said. "This is the perfect chance to pick us off, so why wouldn't they take it?"_

"Um…How about we join forces with the other alliance to take out Kendall and Samantha?" Danglars suggested.

"Out of the question. Erica's too weak and Gary's too nice." Angela shook her head.

"But it's easier to get rid of the evil players that way." Danglars supplied. "Just…Just think of it as voting WITH them for a vote, but not actually joining them. Like having the same target as them."

Angela was silent for a moment. "That actually makes a bit of sense." She reasoned.

Danglars sighed in relief.

"Doesn't mean we're going to do it, though."

Danglars pouted.

"_Well, I tried." Danglars shrugged._

Meanwhile, Erica was pacing back and forth by the campfire, looking in deep thought.

"This isn't good. With Riddle gone, our advantage is gone as well." Erica noted. "Our only hope of surviving out here is to find the idol and play it. That way, our numbers will at least even out." She looked over to where Gary was sitting. "What do you think, Gary?"

Gary appeared to be relaxing, sitting on the grass and propping the back of his head up on a log and looking close to falling asleep. He turned his head and looked at Erica. "You say something?"

Erica saw this from afar and furiously came rushing over. "Gary, how can you be so calm?" Erica demanded. "We're in a tight spot!"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Gary asked.

"We need the idol to survive, Gary! That's a complete and utter fact!"

"That may be so, but it's not like I'm going to be surprised if we don't find it." Gary shrugged. "I mean, whatever happens, it's bound to happen."

"H-How can you say that?"

"_There are times when Gary's optimistic positivity completely wears thin on me. It's like he doesn't even know what's going on!" Erica said. "We're at a disadvantage and we need to idol again if we want to even BE here after Tribal Council! How is he so calm?"_

"Look, all we have to do is win Reward, right?" Gary asked. "If one of us wins Reward, we'll just send the other to Exile Island and take a potential swing vote with us on a potential reward trip to sway their vote."

"But…Who are the ones that we could get?" Erica asked.

"From the looks of things, Samantha and Tempo." Gary replied. "I saw that Kendall and Samantha apparently had a falling out."

"Well…I guess that sounds like the best course of action at the moment." Erica said before sighing. "I guess I was just worried that you weren't paying attention to what was going on around you."

"Oh, I've been paying attention. It just doesn't bother me." Gary shrugged again.

"_I don't really care for all this strategizing and backstabbing of allies, so I can't really be bothered to try any of it myself." Gary noted. "However, that doesn't mean that I haven't been paying attention to what's been going on around me. If someone like Erica questions me about what's been going on, I'll say what I know."_

Meanwhile, Tempo was having a talk with Samantha and it seemed like things weren't going anywhere.

"Wait. You DIDN'T vote for Brock?" Samantha asked.

"No way. I thought that was you." Tempo shook his head.

"There's no one else that could have possibly voted him out except you and I." Samantha said. "And I know for a fact that I didn't do it."

"But…But I voted with them!"

"_I don't get it! Samantha comes up to me to confront me about voting out Brock and putting them in a minority, but I voted to KEEP him!" Tempo said. "However, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Samantha is trying to pin the blame on me so she can get in good with the others…I guess now I know what Danglars felt like not too long ago."_

"_I see Tempo as a threat to my game. If the others trust him, then they'll probably keep him over me." Samantha said. "That's why I voted out Brock. I wanted to place some doubt in the heads of everyone else and make sure that there was even the slightest possibility that one of the swing votes couldn't be trusted."_

"How do I know you're not trying to frame me?" Tempo accused. "I know it wasn't me, so what's stopping me from telling them it was you?"

"To be frank, you don't have the proof. However, you were the one who was trying to pin blame on Danglars earlier." Samantha said before smirking.

Tempo sighed. "I told them I was sorry about that!" He insisted.

"Well, then I guess you'd better hope they believed you." Samantha said as she walked off.

This left Tempo alone. After a few moments, he finally sighed. "NOW what am I going to do?" He asked.

"_I REALLY hope I get sent to Exile next. I need the idol now more than ever. I first came into this game knowing to expect anything, but I really wasn't counting on everything turning against me this close to the end." Tempo said. "I'm going to have an uphill battle to survive and I think everyone else knows that…"_

Night eventually rolled in. Deciding to head to bed, everyone knew that there was going to be a challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 32)**

"_We're going to have a challenge today, and I'm betting that it's going to be a Reward. Since we had the double-boot, we're due for one." Samantha said. "Of course, I'd like to go to Exile because I feel I could use the idol at this point. While I may have people voting with me for now, I want to make sure that I'm safe."_

"Why would I want to send you to Exile Island?" Angela asked with a lifted eyebrow. "You're probably the last person I'd willingly send there."

"You don't trust me?" Samantha asked with a smirk, which faltered when she saw that all she got in response was a flat stare. "Okay. I take it back. But still, I think that, out of you, me and Danglars, I'd have the best chance at finding the idol."

"And what makes you say that?" Angela asked, eyes narrowed. "Do you doubt me?"

"Never said that, but I'm better at searching than you think."

"_Samantha assumes far too much. I already found and used an idol before we even made the merge, and I don't doubt that Samantha would simply make a fake one if she went there." Angela shook her head before smirking. "She doesn't need to know that, though. It would just make wiping that smirk off her face less-satisfying."_

"Hey, everyone. We've got treemail." Gary said as he walked into camp.

"Great. I was getting a little bored." Kendall said.

"It's wondering how good we are with balance." Gary read.

Kendall smirked. "This'll be a cakewalk for me." He said.

"Like any of US would actually let you win a challenge." Erica folded her arms.

"Seriously, though. How is balance going to factor into the challenge?" Tempo asked. "We've already had some endurance challenges."

"_Now that Samantha abandoned me, I need a way to get back at her. If I can get to Exile, I'd search for the idol for real." Kendall said. "I think it would be perfect for me to finally blindside her with an idol usage to show her that she means nothing to me anymore."_

"_So long as this 'balance' thing doesn't involve holding up weights, I'm fine with it. Frankly, I just want to beat the people I don't like." Erica shook her head. "I don't really even care about winning non-important challenges so long as I make sure the people I don't like LOSE."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The seven players emerged from the jungle and walked out onto a clearing. Seeing their tribe mat on the ground, everyone walked over and stepped on.

"Welcome to your next Reward Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be putting all of the balance you have to the test." SSBFreak said. The contestants saw seven long platforms behind the host, held above the ground. "There are seven sets of platforms, and each one is position roughly two feet off the ground. Your goal is to cross the gap between the two main platforms by crossing a very slim and narrow beam, ring the bell on the second platform, and make your way back the way you came. If you fall at any point, you have to do it all again, even going back to ring the bell. In addition, to make things harder, you will each be carrying a ten-pound bowling ball. The first person to make it all the way across to the other platform and come back to the start without falling once will win Reward, which is a feast at an undisclosed location."

The remaining seven contestants looked eager to start when they saw what was up for grabs. They seemed intent to win the challenge.

"If you'll all get into position, we can begin." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

The seven players stood on their starting platforms in a line. The beam that they had to traverse looked narrower than they originally thought and they knew carrying a ten pound weight across would affect their balance.

"Okay. For Reward, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

The seven players started making their way across the narrow beam, but most of them fell pretty quickly. Only Erica and Tempo remained on the beams when everyone else fell, and even Tempo fell off a few seconds after everyone else did.

"Man. These weights are gonna be tough on balance." Danglars said as he climbed back onto the starting platform.

Erica walked across the narrow beam slowly, but the ten pound weight she was carrying was making her wobble back and forth constantly. It didn't take long for her to succumb to the weight and she fell off the beam. By this time, most of the others had already started their second attempt (although Gary had just fallen off a second time).

"How do they expect us to do this?" Erica asked. "Even without the weight, getting across a beam that narrow is a chore in itself."

Samantha toppled off the beam and Danglars fell right after her. "I thought I had the balanace right that time." Samantha moaned.

Kendall, being a monkey, was having an easier time with his balancing, but the added weight was really throwing a wrench into his performance. "Ugh. If it wasn't for this weight, I'd already be across and back!" He cursed. Of course, Kendall's little outburst threw off his balance and he toppled off the beam again.

"So far, no one's even made it halfway across the beam once." SSBFreak said. "This could take a little bit."

"You're the one that gave us these weights to begin with!" Angela snapped as she tried to maintain her balance. She managed to hold firm and slowly walked forward.

At this point, Angela was in the lead with Tempo behind her. Danglars had just slipped and fell again while Gary had gotten up for another attempt. Slowly, Angela made it out to the halfway point of the beam and struggled to maintain balance, stopping for a second. Tempo saw his chance and started moving faster. He managed to catch up to Angela, but because he was moving faster, he quickly fell off and landed flat on his face. Angela, taken aback, slipped and fell off after him.

This left Gary, who was only a few feet out onto the beam, as the current leader. Erica was just starting again while Samantha had just fallen off and Kendall was running back to the start. Gary was easily holding the weight, so the main thing he needed to focus on was keeping his balance.

"I can barely stand on this thing as it is." Erica muttered as she trailed behind Gary. "This weight's doing nothing but pull me down."

By now, Tempo had gotten back onto the beam while Danglars fell off yet again. The brown-haired man slowly started making his way across the narrow beam. "Okay. I need to take it slow this time." He told himself.

Kendall was trying again and was making halfway-decent progress, but he still wasn't used to carrying the weight across as he balanced. Because of this, he was nowhere near catching up to the leaders and could only hope that they would fall and give him an opening to take the lead.

Angela, on the beam next to him, suddenly managed to overtake him. She looked down at Kendall as she walked and gave a smirk. "I thought monkeys were supposed to be GOOD at balance." She taunted.

"Shut up! I'm not used to the weights!" Kendall snapped.

In irony, Kendall's mouth lead to his downfall, as his little outburst threw off his balance and caused him to topple off the beam again. "Look at what you made me do!" The monkey shouted.

"Always a pleasure." Angela smirked as she continued.

Samantha was making a bit of progress as Danglars was starting his next attempt. The button-eyed woman slowly made her way across the beam, hoping that the people in front of her would soon fall off and put her in the lead.

"How is this challenge as hard as it is?" Samantha muttered to herself. "It's not that complicated…"

Danglars tried sidling along the beam sideways, thinking he'd make up ground if he didn't actually walk. Unfortunately for him, he lost his balance easily and fell down, but ended up hitting his groin on the way down. Danglars' eyes snapped open in pain as he slowly toppled off the beam, landing flat on his face with a whimper.

SSBFreak blinked. "Uh…I think it's safe to say that Danglars is out of it." He said.

Everyone suddenly heard one of the bells getting rung. Looking ahead to the halfway markers, they saw that Gary had crossed the beam once and had rung the bell. He was now starting to work his way back.

"Gary's halfway done. If he can complete the last half of the task without falling, he'll win." SSBFreak said.

"Okay. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Now the rest should be easy." Gary said as he started making his way back to the start.

Seeing that Gary was so far ahead of her, Samantha picked up the pace, only to slip a couple of steps in and fell off the beam. Erica suffered a similar fate, but shortly after Gary rung the bell, Angela crossed the beam and run it as well.

"Angela can now start the second half of the challenge. It can go either way at this point." SSBFreak said.

Angela gave a slight smirk as she attempted to pick up the pace. Gary was still taking his time and appeared to be slowing down. This would give her the chance she needed to catch up.

Angela glanced down as she made her way across and saw that Danglars was still curled up on the grass, holding his crotch in pain. "Danglars, get up! We need to keep him from winning!" She directed.

"Got it." Danglars said in a high-pitched voice.

Tempo wobbled across to the halfway point and quickly rung the bell on the other side. Even though he was the third person to make it that far, he was still far behind.

"Maybe if they both fall, I can have a chance." Tempo told himself as he started making his way across.

Angela managed to catch up to Gary. "You're moving way too slowly, Gary." She said as she approached him from behind.

"You may want to be careful, Angela." Gary supplied without looking back. "If you go too fast, you'll lose your balance."

As if to prove Gary's point, Angela's balance was suddenly thrown off due to the constantly-shifting weight. Angela topped off the beam and hit the ground as Gary continued on by himself.

"Angela is down! She has to go back to the start and try the whole thing again!" SSBFreak said.

Suddenly, Gary managed to cross to the starting platform again. Giving a smile, he placed his weight down on the platform.

"Actually, never mind. The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Gary wins Reward!"

Angela growled and hit the ground in frustration as Gary looked satisfied with his performance.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Gary. For winning the challenge, you have won the feast." SSBFreak said. "However, you can choose to take one of the others with you."

"Samantha." Gary said.

Samantha's button eyes seemed to widen in surprise, but she nevertheless went over to Gary anyway.

"And who will you be sending to Exile Island?" SSBFreak asked.

"Erica." Gary replied.

"Okay. Gary and Samantha will be going on the Reward trip while Erica will go to Exile Island for the day. They will all meet up with you again at tomorrow Immunity Challenge." SSBFreak said. "For the rest of you, I have nothing at the moment. You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Gary won Reward, which isn't really what confuses me. Instead of taking Erica with him like I was thinking he would, he takes Samantha instead and sends Erica to Exile." Danglars scratched his head. "Even if the challenge was a couple of hours ago, I still don't get it."_

"That decision to take Samantha with him kinda came out of left field, didn't it?" Danglars asked.

"Actually, it was the perfect choice for him to make." Angela sighed.

"Wait. What?"

"They don't want to idol to end up in the hands of anyone but themselves, so Gary sends his teammate to Exile to find it." Angela explained. "And to top it all off, he takes one of the swing votes with him and he's sure to try and sway her vote."

"And it was the swing vote that's liable to vote against us." Danglars sighed, realization setting in.

"_Gary took Samantha to try and get her to join his side, while at the same time leaving us with Kendall, who I know for a fact wouldn't join up with us. Gary's trying to make life hard for us." Angela said. "Then again, since this is Gary I'm talking about, maybe I'm giving him too much credit…"_

"Guys, can we talk?" Tempo asked as he came over.

"What's on your mind?" Danglars asked.

"Look, I'll be frank. I swear I've been voting with you guys and I want to vote with you at the next council." Tempo explained.

"I never said I didn't believe you, Tempo. I always figured Samantha was a loose cannon." Angela shrugged.

Danglars did a double-take. "Wait. You're seriously trusting him just like that?" He asked. He didn't get an answer.

"Just remember to vote with us, okay?" Angela warned. "You betray us and you WILL regret it."

Tempo almost seemed relieved. "Thanks." He said.

"_I'm glad that Angela trusts me. So long as I remain on the good side of the person I wouldn't want to go against in challenges, I'm fine." Tempo explained. "I mean, at least now I have a decent chance of lasting now that I have a few people to join with."_

As Tempo walked off, Danglars looked at Angela. "You really think trusting him that soon is a good idea?" He asked again.

"Call it a gut instinct." Angela replied.

"Are your instincts usually right?"

"They were right with you, anyway." Angela said, casting Danglars a sideways glance.

"…_Boy. She sure knows how to stop a conversation dead in its tracks." Danglars scratched his head._

Meanwhile, Kendall was up in a tree, having overheard the conversation. He appeared to be in deep thought.

"This isn't good. Now the only way I can assure that my side wins is if Samantha votes with us." Kendall mused. "Hmm…How would I convince her to vote with me again?"

"_Samantha was the one that stupidly broke up the alliance with me, and now I need her vote again to keep the majority." Kendall said. "Hmph. I could have gotten rid of her back when I had the chance, but now that I need her, I need to plans things out differently."_

"But it's a good thing these trees give me cover. Those idiots would never think that I was eavesdropping on them." Kendall muttered to himself as he sat back.

Danglars looked up at the tree Kendall was hiding in, then at Angela. "You think we should tell him that we can hear him?" He asked.

"No. This is actually pretty entertaining." Angela said with a smirk.

**(Resort Location)**

"Well, there's the food." Samantha said as she and Gary walked into a nice-looking hut. "We may as well enjoy this."

"Indeed." Gary nodded.

"_For whatever reason, Gary decided to take me on Reward instead of his ally, although I'm sure it's because Erica wants to find the idol." Samantha said. "That being said, considering that I'm an apparent swing vote, he's probably going to try and convince me to vote with him and Erica."_

"So what is it you were wanting to talk to me about?" Samantha asked. "Just so you know, I'm open to different options to get through the game."

Gary paused and blinked a couple of times. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Wait. Didn't you bring me here so you could talk strategy to me?" Samantha asked.

"I guess that was part of it. Erica wanted the idol, so that's why I sent her to Exile." Gary shrugged. "Why? Did you want to talk strategy?"

"Uh…Sure."

"_I'll take the options that are given to me, I guess. I'm not sure how keen Erica will be on voting with Samantha, though." Gary mused. "Still, ever since Riddle left, we haven't really been that confident, so if Samantha's coming to us wanting to talk strategy, then I'll welcome it. Probably won't really pay attention to all of it, but it's the thought that counts, I guess."_

"Frankly, I think you could vote out Angela and Danglars whenever you wanted. I think you should shift your focus elsewhere." Samantha pointed out.

"To Kendall? Why would we do that? He's voting WITH us." Gary scratched his head.

"Not him. Tempo."

"_Tempo has a powerful role as a swing vote. Luckily for me, he's not abusing it like I probably would. However, this makes me feel uneasy." Samantha said. "Angela's more-likely to keep Tempo over me if it came down to it, so if I can convince the other alliance to take him out, I can get rid of that threat while I still have the chance."_

"The fact remains that Tempo could sail through the game and pick off everyone else before they even realize that they've let him into the finals." Samantha explained. "Do you think it would be a good idea to let him stay in the game until the finals?"

Gary gave a shrug. "I suppose not. He'd probably be able to beat most people in the finals." He reasoned.

"…_Man. When Gary brought me on the Reward, I admit that I wasn't expecting to be the one to actually talk the strategy." Samantha shook her head._

**(Exile Island)**

"Okay. Here I am. Time to start searching." Erica said as she instantly went to work on trying to find the elusive idol.

"_My alliance had the idol before. If I can find it, it can give us a bit of saving grace come Tribal Council." Erica explained. "Unfortunately, the last time we used the idol, it didn't really end like we thought it would. I can just hope that next time, we'll know what's coming."_

Erica walked along the shore of Exile Island, holding her clue in hand. Eventually, after a bit of walking, Erica ended up on a small cluster of small islands.

"Okay. The idol's buried on one of those little islands." Erica said. "But…Which one?" She looked amongst the six possible locations and sighed. "I may as well get started."

Thankfully, it didn't take as long to find the idol as Erica initially thought. After digging through two of the six islands, Erica dug into the third and found the idol buried in the sand.

"Boy. This is a relief." Erica sighed. "But now what? When's the best time to use it?"

"_We're running out of time to use the idol. It's only good until the final five and we're in the final seven already." Erica said. "Here's the dilemma: Should we use the idol now or try and see if we can save it and use it later? Personally, I'd like to put off using it as long as I can, but I know I may have to end up using it sooner than expected."_

Erica sat down underneath the provided shelter. "I need to make sure that we don't waste it this time." She muttered to herself. "I need to know for certain who the others are targeting before I use this…"

Night eventually rolled in. The seven remaining players decided to go to bed since there would be an important Immunity Challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 33)**

"Six more days left. Six more days and I'll be away from this bunch of idiots." Kendall said, almost in a relieved tone.

"_The contest is nearing its end and I'm still here. I intend to make the finals, and when I do, I'll be the only one there worthy of the win." Kendall said. "I just need to take a goat to the finals and I'll look good by comparison, but the biggest question is obviously who I'd have the best chance against."_

"Gary and Danglars are jury threats. Too many people like them." Kendall said. "I hate to admit it, but Samantha's a game threat and she could sway some votes…"

Kendall sat back in the tree he was in, as if pondering his options. "Maybe…Maybe Angela is the best person to take to the end…" He pondered. "With her negativity, I doubt she'd get any votes from the swing votes."

"Guys. We have treemail." Kendall looked down and saw Danglars walking into camp with a note.

"Looks like I'll have to give this more thought." Kendall said as he jumped down to join the others.

"_For me to win, I need to perfect person in the finals with me; Someone who has no chance at winning compared to anyone else." Kendall explained. "After weighing my options, I'm thinking I'd have the best chance against Angela. However, I'll need to ponder the rest of my options even though I know I don't have a lot of time left."_

"What's the challenge?" Angela asked.

"It's wondering how good we are at climbing." Danglars replied.

Kendall gave a smirk. "Finally. This is my challenge."

"Put a sock in it." Angela rolled her eyes.

"_This isn't good. I was hoping I could pitch the idea to Angela and Danglars to vote out Kendall, but if he wins, that will blow my entire idea out of the water." Tempo folded his arms. "Maybe…Maybe if I try to keep him from winning, they'll see that I'm serious about joining them and vote with me."_

"We may as well head out and see what the challenge brings." Tempo scratched his head. "For all we know, there could be something that the letter's not telling us."

"Agreed. Things are never that simple." Angela nodded.

"_Uh…Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier." Danglars said, prodding his fingers nervously. "I got me this thing about heights…"_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The four people from camp emerged from the jungle and walked onto a clearing. Seeing their mat on the ground, everyone walked over and stepped on.

"Before we continue, let's bring back Gary and Samantha, who are returning from their Reward, and Erica, who is back from Exile." SSBFreak said.

The three specified contestants walked in from opposite side and joined the others, forming a complete group of seven.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will see how well you can climb something unassisted." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw a line of seven ropes behind the host, all of them tied to a beam high off the ground. "The object of this challenge is simple: Climb the rope. The Immunity Necklace is on top of the beam at the top, and your goal is to get it. However, climbing these ropes will be hard and there won't be anything to support you with. Whoever manages to climb up to the top of those ropes and grab the Immunity Necklace will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The seven players looked at each other, knowing that the challenge would be hard for even the skilled climbers.

"If you'll all take your positions, we can begin the challenge." SSBFreak said.

The seven players walked over to the line of ropes and each grabbed one, preparing to start the challenge.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

The seven players instantly leapt up and grabbed the ropes to start climbing. It was quickly realized that the ropes weren't going to be easy to climb, as Danglars and Gary lost their grip pretty quickly.

"How do they expect us to climb that thing?" Danglars asked, rubbing his hands. "I can't get a good grip on it."

Kendall was easily climbing the rope, but when he took the time to glance to his left, he saw that Angela was right beside him, climbing at a similar pace. "Ugh. How are you doing that?" He demanded.

"It's part of my skill set to be a good climber. What's YOUR excuse?" Angela retorted.

"I'm a MONKEY!"

Kendall and Angela lead the pack, climbing up the ropes but not making a lot of ground as they climbed. The other five seemed to be gathered around close to the bottom of the ropes, not making a lot of progress.

"Are these ropes coated with butter or something?" Samantha asked. "Why can't I climb this?"

"Probably because there's nothing to support ourselves with. We'll have nothing holding ourselves up." Erica replied.

"Just shut up."

Danglars suddenly slid down between them, still holding onto the rope and screaming in pain. He landed on the ground with a dull thud.

"AUGH! ROPE BURN! ROPE BURN!" Danglars cried before blowing on his hands.

"It looks like it's between Angela and Kendall for this one." SSBFreak announced. "Unless they both screw up, I don't see any of the others catching up."

Tempo finally managed to get into a good groove for climbing and slowly started to make some progress, managing to break away from the rest of the pack and begin his closing-in on Angela and Kendall, who were slowly but surely making it higher and higher on the ropes.

"You can't keep this up. You're a fool to think you can beat a monkey at climbing." Kendall said.

"You talk tough now. Just wait until I have that necklace and win the challenge!" Angela said.

Kendall growled. "Like that's ever going to happen." He said as he continued upwards.

By this point, the two leaders had made it up about halfway. Tempo was still behind, but was managing to keep his grip and continue upwards.

In the meantime, Erica had finally managed to get a good enough grip and was starting her trek up her rope. This left Gary and Samantha at the bottom of the pack with Danglars still on the ground, trying to ease the numbing pain in his hands.

"I don't know why I'm even trying now." Erica said, shaking her head. "The others are too far ahead."

Tempo suddenly faltered a bit, his grip feeling like it was slipping. Tempo quickly tightened his grip with his other hand and wiped his now-sweaty hand off on his jacket. "Stupid sweat. That could have killed me." He muttered. He took the time to wipe his other hand off as well before continuing upwards.

SSBFreak looked up. "Hmm…Maybe I made this challenge too easy. Angela and Kendall are already halfway up their ropes." He mused, more to himself.

Danglars decided to try again and started climbing, trying to ignore the rope burn on his hands. He slowly started climbing, although he was nowhere near catching up to anyone at this point. "Why me?" He muttered to himself.

Kendall growled as he struggled to keep ahead of Angela. He wasn't expecting to have any competition in this challenge, and yet Angela was extremely close to overtaking him. "This challenge was MADE for me. I'm not going to give up the win to anyone." He grunted as he pressed on.

Because she was rushing to get to the top faster than Kendall, Angela was starting to tire out. At this point, she was simply running on adrenaline and the want for Immunity. Of course, Kendall would never know that.

Further down, Tempo was starting to slow down himself, having used up too much stamina just trying to catch up with the leaders. His climbing had slowed down to the point where it seemed like he was even getting anywhere.

"So much for winning the challenge." Tempo shook his head. "How are they not tiring out by now?"

At this point, Gary and Samantha had given up and were simply standing off the field of play with the host, waiting for the challenge to end. Danglars suddenly slid to the bottom of the rope again and landed flat on his back.

"You get more rope burns?" Gary asked.

"Shut up! Just…Just shut up!" Danglars said before blowing on his hands again.

Nearing the top of the ropes, Kendall and Angela were still pretty much neck-in-neck, although it appeared that Kendall had a very slight lead at this point. Trying to block everything else out, Angela continued upwards, trying to get to the top before Kendall could.

"Almost there…" Kendall muttered. "I just…Need to…"

Everything went in slow motion for the two, but finally, one of them reached the top of the ropes first, snatching the Immunity Necklace the first chance they could.

Kendall held up the necklace as Angela looked frustrated at how close she had been.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Kendall wins Immunity!"

"Exactly how it should be." Kendall said with a smirk.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Kendall. You have a one-in-six chance at winning the game." SSBFreak said.

"Took me long enough." Kendall said.

SSBFreak turned to the other six players. "Kendall is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing you all at Tribal Council, where one more person will be voted out of the game." He explained. "This close to the end, I would say that it's time to start thinking about who you want to bring to the finals with you, because in less than a week, the competition will be over. You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_Okay. Kendall won Immunity, which isn't very good for us. We were hoping to align with the others to get rid of him, but now we can't." Danglars said. "Then there's also that whole thing about Erica having the idol."_

"So how are we going to do this?" Danglars asked.

"We need to either get Erica to use the idol or fool her into not playing it at all and take her out with it." Angela said.

"Can it be done?" Tempo asked.

"Remember that we did it before with Riddle." Angela said with a smirk.

"Uh…Except that the vote didn't work out back then." Danglars piped up. Angela glared at him, making him back down. "Shutting up."

"Okay. This can be done. We just need to cement Samantha's vote and we should be good." Angela said.

"Except that Gary's been talking to her at Reward." Tempo said.

"_I'm a little worried at this. Samantha appears to be the swing vote here and Gary pretty much had him to herself at Reward." Tempo said. "Part of me is worried that they talked strategy, but then I remember that this is Gary. With any luck, he didn't bother trying to get her vote at all."_

Meanwhile, Kendall was walking over to Gary and Erica, who were talking. Kendall looked confident in himself.

"Okay. Going into the vote, I'm choosing who we're targeting, and we're going after Angela." Kendall announced.

"Uh…No. We're voting Tempo." Erica said.

Kendall faltered. "What? But I have Immunity! You need my vote and they can't touch me!" He said.

"_I have Immunity here! They should be begging me for my vote and they should be letting me choose the target!" Kendall said. "If I don't vote out the Ventala players now, my plan will never come to fruition!"_

"Look, fur-face. You can vote however you want." Erica said as she showed Kendall the idol. "Gary and I are voting for Tempo, and any votes against us will be nullified, meaning our two votes will outweigh your one."

Kendall tried to come up with a response, but was unable to do so.

"You're backed into a corner. Vote with us or you'll be on your own afterwards." Erica said.

Kendall growled. "Fine." He said as he turned and walked off.

"_I loved doing that. Being able to talk smack directly to someone who's been grating your nerves is extremely satisfying." Erica said with a smirk. "It was great being able to wipe that smug smirk off his stupid face for once."_

Erica looked up at Gary. "Why are we voting for Tempo, again?" She asked.

"He's the only one Samantha will vote off at the moment." Gary shrugged.

**(Tribal Council)**

The seven remaining players walked into Tribal Council, carrying their torches. Finding a spot on the dwindling numbers of stumps, everyone sat down.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the current members of the jury." SSBFreak said. "Corey and Amy, as well as Brock and Riddle, who were both voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Brock and Riddle followed the girls into Tribal Council. Brock was now wearing a white shirt, a red vest, a red headband and a pair of sunglasses (surprisingly big enough to fully-cover his eyes), while Riddle was wearing a blue shirt and black jeans, although everyone saw that he was wearing a blonde wig and had fake, green eyes, as if he was disguised as a human. The four jury members sat down on the bench.

"The jury is only here to observe the outcome of the council. You are not to address them and they will not address you." SSBFreak said before starting to ask some questions. "Erica, you lost an ally at the last Tribal Council. How did that feel?"

"It was pretty hard since Riddle was the one to do most of the thinking before we merged." Erica said. "Thankfully, Gary and I have been managing fairly well since Riddle left."

"That's good to hear." Riddle said.

"Angela, you, on the other hand, also lost an ally last time." SSBFreak said. "Care to elaborate on what happened?"

"Someone voted with us to eliminate Riddle, but against us to eliminate Brock." Angela said. "Samantha and Tempo have both been denying it ever since we got back."

"Do you know who's telling the truth?"

"Of course. Tempo is." Angela nodded. "Samantha was the one to backstab us."

Samantha's eyes widened. "Wait! Where the heck did you get that from?" She asked.

"My instincts are never wrong, Samantha. I was right with Danglars and I know I'm right with Tempo." Angela responded.

"Samantha, you seem surprised to hear this." SSBFreak said.

"Of course I am! I mean, I was the one to come to Angela to begin with!" Samantha insisted.

"Judging by your gameplay thus far, I'm actually surprised that you didn't suspect me of being onto you from the start." Angela rolled her eyes.

"Angela, you have no proof." Samantha said.

"Maybe not, but we will after this council."

"Wow. Things have really heated up lately." Brock shook his head.

"Tempo, anything to add in your defense?" SSBFreak asked.

"Not really. I mean, Angela said that she believes me, so I'm glad that things ended up working out." Tempo nodded. "I know I kind of had the treatment coming because of the whole thing with Danglars not that long ago, but I'm glad it's over."

"So you didn't vote off Brock?"

"No way. I voted with Angela's alliance with both votes."

"I guess that means that Samantha's not choosing sides." Amy folded her arms.

"Kendall, you have Immunity. Did you need it?" SSBFreak asked.

"I like to think so, but I assumed that having Immunity meant that you could choose the target." Kendall folded his arms. "Erica basically shoehorned me into voting with her alliance rather than me getting them to vote for someone I want."

"Because the person YOU want out will do nothing for the rest of us." Erica replied. "Just because you have Immunity doesn't mean you call the shots around here."

"We'll see who's laughing soon enough." Kendall muttered.

"Danglars, how do you think the vote's going to go tonight?" SSBFreak asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. It basically comes down to if a swing vote votes with us or against us." Danglars replied. "I really hope they come through for us, though. We've been through a lot."

"And to make sure I cover everyone, how are you feeling about the vote, Gary?"

Gary shrugged. "Whatever happens, happens." He replied simply.

"Okay. I think that's enough questions. Before I continue, I have to ask: Kendall, you have Immunity." SSBFreak said. "You keeping it?"

"Of course."

"With that, Kendall is immune and can't be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Danglars, you're up."

Danglars got up and left the hut to go vote. He approached the table and wrote a name down before voting and walking away again.

Erica scribbled a name down. "Maybe…Maybe I don't need to play the idol, after all." She said with a smirk as she walked back to Council.

Tempo wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You're the strongest here, man. I just hope we get the right target." He said, having voted for Gary.

Kendall didn't look too pleased, but wrote a name down regardless. The white-furred monkey placed his ballot into the urn and left the table as fast as he came.

Gary wrote a name down and turned it, revealing Tempo's name. "From what I've been told, the swing vote has too much power." He said with a shrug before voting.

Samantha looked neutral as she approached the table. Without blinking, she wrote a name down and placed it into the urn before walking away again.

Angela was the last to vote. She silently walked up to the table and wrote a name down. Satisfied with her vote, Angela placed it into the jar with the others.

Once all seven players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said. Erica was tempted to play the idol, but in the end decided against it. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Gary." Gary remained silent.

"Gary." Gary gave a shrug.

"…Tempo. It's 2-1." Tempo bit his lip.

"Gary." Erica looked extremely nervous at this point.

"Tempo." Tempo remained silent.

"…Tempo. It's tied at 3." Council was quiet, wondering which way the vote had gone. "Last vote, fifth member of the jury and fourteenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Tempo. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Angela looked mad as Tempo stood up. "Man. I got extremely close, there…" He said as he grabbed his torch and brought it to the host.

"Tempo, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Tempo's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"It's been fun." Tempo shrugged as he walked away and left Tribal Council.

Once Tempo was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining six players. "And so ends another Tribal Council with Tempo paying the price in the end. That was a close Council and I'm sure most of you didn't know how that was going to end." He explained. "There are only six of you left and we're into the last week of the competition. One of you will win, but you still need to outlast five more people. You can all head back to camp."

The six contestants stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council. Bringing up the rear were both Angela and Danglars, realizing that, unless they tried something soon, they were both screwed. It was obvious that Samantha had backstabbed them again, and now they needed a way to retaliate…

"_It sucks getting eliminated so close to the end, but I had a good time out here. Sure, there were some things I think I would have liked to do-over, but overall I'm satisfied with my performance." Tempo said. "Now I'm going to have to ponder over my questions for the finalists, because I'm sure we're going to have an interesting finale."_

**Voting History:**

**Tempo – Erica, Gary, Kendall and Samantha**

**Gary – Angela, Danglars and Tempo**

Author's Notes: And so ends another episode, signifying that Samantha still has more power than you may think. Tempo was fun to write for, but several of his side-plots came up at the last minute. I have to say that I liked where I went with him, because he otherwise would have come off as little more than a strategy-bot, which is something I want to avoid with other people's characters.

**(Ponderosa)**

The limo drove up to the front door of the huge jury house again. The back door opened up and out stepped Tempo, who was taken aback at the size of the house.

"Now this is more like it." Tempo said with a smile. "Now I have a week of relaxation away from the game."

"_After the initial feeling of being let-down at the fact that I was eliminated, I found myself looking forward to Ponderosa." Tempo said. "I'm going to be here a week, so I intend to enjoy myself now that I'm out of the game."_

"Honey! I'm home!" Tempo called out as he walked through the front doors.

"Well, look who it is." Brock said as he walked over. "They kept you a little longer at the medical facility?"

"Yeah. Nothing too major, though." Tempo waved it off. "So how's Ponderosa?"

"It's actually really good. Grab something to eat if you like, but the bunch of us were about to boot up a game and we could use a fourth player." Brock said.

"Who all's playing?" Tempo asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Everyone except Corey. She apparently isn't into video games."

"_I didn't mind Tempo. I always thought he was an okay guy despite what he did close to the end of his stay." Brock shrugged. "Maybe now that we don't have to worry about the game, we can actually talk to him more."_

Corey watched as the other four players played the game. It seemed that the others were getting into it, but Corey just looked confused. "Uh…Why are y'all throwing turtle shells at each other?" She asked. "And…Why do they seem ta have enough force ta knock over a go-kart?"

"In video games, it doesn't have to make sense, Corey." Amy said with a smirk.

"But…That blue shell…Why does it have wings?" Corey asked. "And…Why does it make an explosion?"

"Again, it doesn't need to make sense."

Corey held her head. "Ah dun' get video games." She moaned.

"So tell us about what's been going on." Brock said without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Well, Samantha officially ended her little alliance with Kendall, yet she still hasn't chosen a concrete side. That's why I'm here today and not Gary." Tempo explained.

"I'm a little surprised that they haven't been eliminated yet." Riddle said. "Now that I think about it, we were probably too wrapped up in trying to eliminate each other that we completely ignored them."

"I guess so. Doesn't mean either of them are getting my vote if they make the finals, though." Tempo said.

"Of course not."

"_It's quite confusing that two villains, who clearly don't like anyone, not even each other, have managed to make it this far in the competition." Riddle said. "I am certainly hoping that the others will soon wise up and take them both out, because if it's a final two between them, I think I would rather abstain from voting at all."_

After the game finished, Amy looked at Tempo, who was sitting on a chair beside the couch. "So, Tempo? About this whole thing with Danglars…" She said.

Tempo chuckled nervously. "It really wasn't personal. I…I said my reasons at Tribal Council." He explained.

"I know, and I'm not mad about you voting me off anymore." Amy assured.

Tempo sighed in relief. "Um…Thanks." He said.

"If you're done eating, I can show you around." Amy suggested. "We even picked out a room for you if you don't mind."

"Okay. Where is it?"

"…_Okay. Maybe I wanted to get back at him a LITTLE." Amy said with a smirk._

Later on that night, everyone was asleep to prepare for a trip the next day. Well, almost everyone…

"…And then when mah dad got the restrainin' order, all he did in response was give the guy a haymaker to the stomach! Man, it seemed like that creep was coughin' up his lungs! It was hilarious!" Corey said from her bottom bunk. "Of course, it wouldn't have been funny if he actually DID cough up a lung. Those things are gross and make real bad stains that ya can't get out of anythin' no matter how much ya try. Y'all ever try-"

As Corey continued to talk, Tempo laid back on the top bunk, holding his pillow over his ears before sighing. "I suppose I had this coming." He admitted.


	14. Days 34 to 36

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"We got extremely luck back there, Gary." Erica said after everyone walked back into camp.

"Indeed. I really wasn't sure if Samantha would vote with us or not." Gary said with a shrug.

"_I played a big gamble by not playing the idol back there, but Samantha voted with us anyway and Tempo is gone." Erica said. "Now we still have the idol and we've got a chance at taking out the other alliance."_

"You think we can count on Samantha voting with us again?" Gary asked.

"Not likely." Erica shook her head. "Knowing her, she'll probably try joining the others now that they're down to a manageable number."

"Hmm…So what do you think we should do about that?"

"Brush up on our fire-making skills in case of a tiebreaker, for starters."

"_There's only six of us left, and if Erica's right about Samantha being likely to jump ship, then it's pretty much three-on-three." Gary shrugged. "Well, we may as well make the best of things and be ready in case there ends up being a tiebreaker. I still remember back when Angela managed to get Riddle to waste our last idol."_

Meanwhile, Samantha was off by herself as Kendall approached her, looking suspicious.

"There has to be a reason you voted with me." Kendall explained. "You considering crawling back to me now that you realize that you've got no chance?"

Samantha stared at Kendall flatly. "Uh…No. It was just a coincidence that we ended up voting for the same person. In fact, it was my idea to vote out Tempo in the first place." She said before smirking. "So technically, YOU voted with ME."

Kendall growled. "You act so smug, but you'll gain nothing from this." He said.

"Nope. YOU'LL gain nothing from this. If I recall, these were the exact same words we were saying back when we were in an alliance, except now the tables have turned."

"_Voting out Tempo cemented me as the only swing vote remaining, and one that I'm sure Angela and Danglars would be happy to have now that they're outnumbered." Samantha said with a smirk. "I know that, in the end, they would have kept Tempo over me, so why not take advantage of the situation while I still had the numbers?"_

"_Samantha is single-handedly ruining my entire game. My plan is to be the only Ventala player left in the finals so that I can pitch my gameplay to the people I outlasted." Kendall folded his arms. "If Samantha keeps voting out Ferren players, my window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller."_

The final six decided to go to bed, knowing that there would definitely be some questions that needed answering the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 34)**

"_Well, this sucks. We manage to get Tempo on our side for real and suddenly he gets blindsided." Danglars sighed. "We know for a fact that Samantha voted against us last night, which tells us that we can't really trust her, which to be fair is exactly what we've always thought."_

Angela was oddly silent as she sat by the edge of the lake, looking like she was in deep thought. Danglars looked at her, almost afraid to say anything.

"Um…So…What do we do now?" Danglars asked.

Angela was silent a few more seconds. "I've never had a losing streak like this." She admitted gruffly.

"Uh…What?"

"We've been blindsided four times now, practically in a row." Angela said, turning to Danglars. "Why do you think that is?"

"Um…Because…Samantha's voted everyone out?"

"Exactly!" Angela snapped. "We've never trusted Samantha to begin with, but leaving her for so long gave her the chance to vote out our entire alliance!"

"But…There's only two of us now. We can't vote her out now or else we'd easily get picked off!" Danglars reminded.

"I know, and I also have the feeling that's exactly what Samantha wanted in the first place." Angela said darkly.

"_Trusting Samantha at all was a foolish move on my part, and now that she has us exactly where she wants, I'll have no choice but to vote with her." Angela folded her arms. "I can't believe I've let myself be backed into a corner like this, but at the moment, I'll need to focus on the game and get through it."_

"Speak of the devil." Danglars said as he saw Samantha coming over.

"I'll ignore that." Samantha said, glaring at Danglars. "Look, I know that you two are likely angry that I voted out Tempo like that."

"That's quite the understatement, Samantha." Angela said, glaring at the button-eyed woman. "You were the one to come to us in the first place about joining us, and yet you've still done nothing but vote out our allies since we merged."

"Because I know that I'd be a sitting duck when it came down to it!" Samantha retorted. "Once it just got down to your alliance, you'd get rid of me like dead weight!"

"And what makes you think we'd take you in now that you've all but decimated our alliance?" Angela asked.

Samantha smirked. "Because you'd be outnumbered otherwise. Face it; At this point, you need me." She explained. "Don't worry. I swear that you have my vote this time."

"A lot of good your word does." Danglars rolled his eyes.

"_I'm playing a bit of a risk by going to Angela and Danglars after voting against them, but they should realize eventually that they don't have a choice in the vote." Samantha explained. "Without me, they'll both get voted out, and I'm sure that they know that."_

"I suggest that you watch your back, Samantha. We may be allied, but believe me when I say that I don't like it." Angela folded her arms.

"It's all part of the game, Angela." Samantha reminded as she turned and walked off.

"_Samantha obviously thinks that we can't touch her simply because we need her, but that's far from the truth." Angela said, looking mad. "If it looks like I'd be able to manage, then I'd have no qualms dumping Samantha and getting her to realize that crossing someone like me is the biggest mistake she can make."_

"So we're trusting her for now?" Danglars asked.

"You familiar with the term 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer', Danglars?" Angela asked.

"Uh…Not really. I mean, if the racers back home did that, then Dick Dastardly would probably win every race he entered." Danglars gave a shrug.

"Indeed. I think that term needs to die, myself." Angela agreed. "However, Samantha doesn't need to know that. She thinks she's safe, but we'll get rid of her when we get the chance."

"Okay. You had me worried there for a second." Danglars sighed in relief.

"_It's basically Angela and I against Gary and Erica at this point. Kendall joined Ferren because he wants to vote us out and Samantha's joining us because we don't have a choice." Danglars said. "Honestly, if Gary and Erica allow it, why don't we just band together and get rid of those two back to back? I mean, what's stopping us?"_

Meanwhile, Kendall was talking to Gary and Erica, and not looking very pleased.

"Why didn't you tell me that it was Samantha's idea to vote out Tempo?" Kendall demanded.

"It got her vote." Gary shrugged nonchalantly.

"This is exactly what she wants, though!" Kendall said. "She wanted you to vote out a swing vote so she could get in good with the other alliance!"

"We kinda figured that. That's why Gary and I have been working on making fires in case of a tiebreaker." Erica noted. "If you want a chance against any of them in case they go after you, I suggest you do the same."

"We haven't made any ground, though!" Kendall said. "Both Ventala players are still here!"

"Why would that matter to us?" Erica asked with a smirk.

"_Kendall was mad when he found out that things went Samantha's way at the vote last night. I don't like giving Samantha what she wants, but seeing Kendall so flustered kinda makes up for it." Erica said with a smirk. "I love sticking it to cocky people like him, so if I get the chance, you know I'll take it."_

"_Things just haven't been going my way. They SARTED going fine, but then Riddle got voted out, and now Tempo did as well." Kendall grunted. "I'm not going to win this game if there's another Ventala player there with me!"_

"Hey, what's done is done. Why don't we just get back to the game?" Gary asked.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Kendall demanded.

Erica stared at Kendall flatly. "You know who you're talking to?" She asked.

Kendall appeared to be in thought for a few seconds before relenting. "Fine. You win this round." He said. "Just remember that you won't be doing yourselves any favours if you don't vote out the Ventala players. Give them the chance and they'll take you both out!"

"Angela's leading the alliance, so I would think that you're in the most danger." Erica said with a smirk. "She values strength above everything else, you know."

"You're a fine one to talk, little-miss-brainiac." Kendall said, eyes narrowed.

"_Just because they managed to catch me by surprise, it doesn't mean I'm backed into a corner. I know how to get out of this one." Kendall said. "I need to convince Gary and Erica to vote with me, and as long as I can get the majority one more time, I'm good."_

"_Hey, if things work out, then great, we'll have the majority again. That's always good to have in Survivor, after all." Gary noted. "But I'm satisfied with how long I've lasted. If things go downhill from here, it's not like I'll have any regrets. It's just not in my nature to have any."_

As Kendall walked off, Erica looked at Gary. "We're going to need a plan of action, though." She explained. "We have the idol, but we need to make sure it isn't wasted this time."

"Yeah. Wouldn't that be funny if it got wasted like it was before?" Gary asked with a smile.

"No…No, it wouldn't." Erica said flatly.

"But-"

"NO."

Gary sat in silence for a few seconds before shrugging. "Okay. Whatever you think." He said.

"_I've put up with Gary's never-ending optimism for almost the entire game at this point. If he wasn't my ally, I'd say that he's too nice for the game." Erica folded her arms. "I'm not going to tell him that, even though I'm sure he'd likely agree with me, because it wouldn't do anything for our game."_

"_I think Erica needs to relax once in a while. The game's been stressing her out too much and she's letting it all get to her." Gary noted. "Honestly, so long as the votes are tied, we've got a chance, and that's really all you need in the game, isn't it?"_

Kendall stalked through the camp, looking cross. He unknowingly passed by Samantha, who was leaning against a tree and looking triumphant.

"Something bothering you?" Samantha taunted.

"Go die somewhere!" Kendall snapped.

"I'm taking you with me." Samantha said nonchalantly.

Kendall growled, realizing that he was wasting time talking to Samantha, turned and stalked off again.

"Going to your tree again?" Samantha called out. She didn't get an answer.

"_It's taken a while, but I've finally knocked Kendall off that high horse of his. He's now fully-aware that he has no power and he doesn't have any allies left that will take him to the end." Samantha shrugged with a smirk. "Personally, I'm feeling really good that I was able to accomplish this. It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless."_

Night eventually rolled in. Knowing that there would be a challenge the following day, the final six went to sleep to be ready for it.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 35)**

"_It's time to start thinking anew and get my act together. I've been blindsided so many times it's humiliating." Angela folded her arms. "I know that Erica likely found the idol, so we need to get her to waste it. That's basically our only chance of staying alive at this point, because if we go into a tiebreaker, we have a chance."_

"I think Erica may be best to go after. I don't think she'd be good at making fires." Danglars supplied.

"That may be what they're anticipating, though." Angela replied.

"Yeah. True." Danglars rubbed his head. "So…You think we should check and see if they have the idol?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if one of us wins Reward, then they send the other one to Exile." Danglars said. "I mean, maybe we're getting worked up for nothing here."

Angela was silent. "I suppose it's worth a shot."

"_I guess it's just me being optimistic here, but there's always the chance that Erica didn't find the idol." Danglars said. "I mean, if it's still in play, we can find it and completely turn the game around."_

"Looks like we have treemail, everyone." Gary announced as he walked into camp.

"Great. What's it say?" Erica asked.

"It's asking if we know anyone with strong stomachs." Gary read.

Danglars moaned. "Not one of these things. I HATE these challenges." He said.

"May as well make the best of it, then." Gary shrugged.

"_An eating challenge? Well, I think my chances are pretty good. I mean, I can't see many of the finalists here having strong enough stomachs to digest the things they eat here." Gary shrugged again. "Then again, there's always Angela. I have no idea what you'd have to eat to survive where she comes from, but I bet it isn't good."_

"_You have any antacid tablets?" Erica asked the cameraman. "I have a feeling we're going to be needing them."_

**(Reward Challenge)**

The six finalists walked out onto a clearing and spotted their tribe mat on the ground. They all walked over and stepped on.

"Welcome to your final Reward Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing the strengths of someone's stomach." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw that there was a table behind the host, but also a seating area.

"Wait. What's with the extra seating area?" Erica asked.

"Glad you asked. We decided to mix things up a little and we invited some people you may know." SSBFreak said. "Come on out, everyone!"

"Oh. Is this the guest challenge?" Gary asked as he turned around with everyone else.

Six additional people walked out into the open. Leading the pack was a young boy with a strange hairstyle.

"Representing Jimmy Neutron is the title character himself." SSBFreak said.

"Hey, ERICA." Jimmy taunted.

Erica stared flatly. "Fan-freaking tastic…" She muttered.

Next in line was a dark-skinned man wearing metal armour and dirty clothing. "Because Angela is the leader of the Raiders in Fallout 3, we've brought one of her trusted foot soldiers." SSBFreak explained.

Angela seemed a little surprised. "We can catch up on business later, soldier." She explained.

"Yes, ma'am!" The Raider nodded.

Next was an orange-furred orangutan that seemed to stroll to an imaginary beat. "Next up is King Louie from the Jungle Book." SSBFreak said.

"Hey, cats! King Louie is in the house!" Louie laughed.

Kendall slapped a hand on his forehead. "Of all people, I swear…" He muttered.

Next was a funny-looking, bald man with an overbite wearing a sweater-vest. "Representing the duo of Wallace and Gromit is Wallace." SSBFreak said.

"Oh! Hey there, Wallace!" Gary greeted. "How are things going?"

"Oh, the usual. There's the odd trip to the moon, dealing with a homicidal maniac and stopping a paradox by going back through time." Wallace laughed.

Gary shook his head. "Man. Same as always, huh?" He asked. Everyone else stared at him strangely.

Next was a slender woman with dark hair and button eyes, dressed in everyday clothes. "Here we have the Beldam representing Coraline, in her "mom" form to remain family-friendly." SSBFreak said.

The Beldam scoffed. "I'll never know why you didn't let me come as myself." She said.

Samantha gave a smirk. "Finally. Someone with a brain." She said.

Bringing up the rear was a short, brown dog wearing goggles and what looked like a pilot's cap. "Finally, representing Wacky Races, is Muttley." SSBFreak said.

"Well, isn't this a surprise." Danglars said before sighing. "Although I probably would have preferred Penelope Pitstop."

"Razzum, frazzum, grazzum, razzum…" Muttley muttered after hearing Danglars' words.

"Okay. Here's how this challenge is going to work. The castaways will actually get a break from the challenge this time, as it will be their guests performing this task." SSBFreak explained. "This challenge will be in three rounds and all six guests will be given a dish to eat. Each round will knock out the two slowest people and whoever wins the third round will win Reward, which is a trip on a boat to go whale-watching."

Some of the finalists looked indifferent, although a few of the guests seemed excited.

"If the six guests will come over here, the castaways can go to the bleachers and watch." SSBFreak explained.

The six guests nervously approached the table, wondering what the first dish was.

"Okay. For Reward, here is the first dish." SSBFreak said as the covers on the six dishes was removed, revealing a rather-unpleasant sight. "The first dish is a tarantula, plain and simple." He explained. "So round one will commence…Now!"

While a few of the guests easily grabbed their dish and started eating, some of the guests didn't seem very keen on the whole idea.

"They…They expect me to eat this thing?" Wallace asked. "Heavens! They didn't even put any cheese with it!"

"Ew! Gross! I think mine's still moving!" Jimmy added.

At the same time, the Raider was easily eating the tarantula, as was King Louie. Angela seemed impressed at her lackey while Kendall just looked annoyed.

"Of course the monkey is going to eat the bug." Kendall rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, it seemed to be a race for third place between Muttley and the Beldam, although it looked like Muttley was currently losing. Muttley, having a harder time biting through the tarantula, was rapidly losing ground and the Beldam saw it.

"Looks like you've admitted that you can't win." The Beldam said with a smirk.

Muttley muttered a few more unintelligible things under his breath as he continued to eat.

"Come on, Muttley! You got this!" Danglars cheered.

"Don't give up, Wallace! You still got this!" Gary cheered.

Wallace was starting to force himself to eat the tarantula, but Jimmy had barely touched his yet, simply staring it down.

"You're supposed to EAT it, you simp!" Erica shouted.

"No way! I'm not touching it!" Jimmy retorted.

"Looks like Jimmy's out of it. He's not even going to try." SSBFreak announced.

"Hey-Hey! I'm done over here!" King Louie called out.

"Ugh! So am I!" The Raider added.

"Indeed you are. Louie and the Raider are moving on." SSBFreak said. "Just two spots remain in the next round."

Wallace was still taking his time and, by now, had no way to catch up. The race was still on between Muttley and the Beldam, even though it was pretty much a shoe-in that they'd be moving on.

"You may as well stop trying, Wallace." Gary supported. "I don't see how you can catch up now."

Wallace looked at the two remaining guests and nodded. "You're probably right, chap." He agreed.

Just as Wallace said this, both Muttley and the Beldam finished, although Muttley lost the race by a couple of seconds.

"I beat you, you mangy mongrel." The Beldam taunted.

"Razzum, frazzum…" Muttley muttered.

"Wow. There's TWO of them." Erica rolled her eyes. "Now I see where you get your shining personality from, Samantha."

"And round one is over. Wallace and Jimmy are out." SSBFreak said. "All others are moving on to round two."

Four dishes were set in front of the advancing guests, which were revealed to be dishes of unnerving substance.

"The next dish is a plate of monkey's brains."

Louie's eyes snapped open. He stared at his plate for a few seconds before fainting dead away, collapsing flat on his back.

"And…Looks like Louie's out of it." SSBFreak said.

Kendall chuckled. "I have to admit. That was pretty funny to watch." He admitted.

"Okay. Round two starts…Now!"

The three remaining guests quickly started digging in. Once again, the Raider appeared to be going strong while Muttley and the Beldam were once again fighting it out.

"He's demolishing that thing." Danglars noted before looking at Angela. "What do you people EAT where you come from?"

"You learn to adapt. Let's just leave it at that." Angela said, forming a light smirk.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

The Beldam scoffed. "You think I'm going to let some dog beat me?" She asked, taking her eyes off her dish. "You really are dense if you-"

"Ma'am! Keep your attention on the challenge! He's getting ahead of you!" Samantha called out.

The Beldam quickly snapped to attention and continued, although Muttley had managed to catch up and pass her while she was distracted with her taunting.

Through this, the Raider tried to block everything out and continued to eat at a surprising pace. Before too long, he had finished his dish well before the others. "I'm finished!" He announced.

"The Raider is moving on and there is only room for one more in the final round." SSBFreak said.

"Once I catch up, then-" The Beldam said before catching herself and continuing eating before she got too distracted.

Seeing that he had a chance to win, Muttley kept his thoughts to himself and sped up his eating, wolfing down all he could before the taste caught up to him.

"Why is you guest so determined to win?" Erica asked.

"Methinks it's because of getting so many losses in races." Danglars shrugged.

Muttley managed to show a surprising determination and managed to finish his dish before the Beldam could. He pumped his fists in the air to signify that he was done.

"Muttley finishes as well! Louie and the Beldam are out." SSBFreak said.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about him." The Raider said, looking down at Louie's still-prone form.

"For the last round, we've decided that you'd probably like something to wash everything down with." SSBFreak said as he gave two glasses of red liquid to the finalists. "A class of cow's blood. The final round starts…Now!"

Muttley was the first to take a drink and quickly made a face at the repulsive taste. The Raider similarly didn't find the taste attractive, but both finalists continued to put up with it.

"Looks like it's a close race. It could go either way." SSBFreak said.

The Raider continued to drink and had gotten about halfway done his glass when he paused. Thinking things over a bit, the Raider continued, but at a much-slower pace than he did previously. This gave Muttley more than enough time to catch up.

"Looks like Muttley's pulled ahead. If he hurries, he could win." SSBFreak said.

His eyes widening at the thought of him actually winning something, Muttley threw his head back and downed the rest of the glass in one gulp. Slamming the empty glass on the table, Muttley let out a belch.

"And Muttley wins! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "This means that Danglars wins Reward!"

"Great going, Muttley!" Danglars cheered.

Muttley gave a raspy chuckle.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Reward, Muttley. Because you won Danglars the challenge, you and him will be going on the boat ride to do the sightseeing." SSBFreak said.

"I can't take anyone else with me, can I?" Danglars asked.

"No. It'll be just the two of you this time." SSBFreak said. "However, you can send one pair to Exile Island for the day."

"No contest. Angela and her guest."

"Okay. Danglars and Muttley will be going on Reward while Angela and the Raider will be going to Exile Island. They will meet with you tomorrow for the Immunity Challenge, but I'll give you all the rest of the day to enjoy with your guests." SSBFreak explained. "You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

King Louie kicked back and relaxed under the shade of the biggest tree he could find. "Man, you guys sure have it good out here." He admitted.

Kendall folded his arms. "You are so easily-pleased, you know that?" He asked flatly.

Louie laughed. "You know it."

"_Of ALL people, why the heck did they have to pick that slobbish oaf that calls himself king? I don't even LIKE him, let alone RESPECT him!" Kendall growled. "If this is a joke, then stop it right now! I'm NOT laughing!"_

"So what's going on in this little game?" Louie asked.

"What exactly do you care?" Kendall asked. "It's not like you'd give me any real help to begin with."

"Hey, you don't think I give good advice?"

"Your advice usually revolves arround laying back and letting everyone around you do the work." Kendall muttered.

"Have a complicated relationship with your king, you vermin?"

Kendall looked over his shoulder and saw Samantha coming over with the Beldam, who had been the one to ask the question. Kendall sighed. "Don't even get me started." He replied. "So what exactly is YOUR relationship?"

"I was created by her." Samantha said, pointing to the Beldam. "I serve the Beldam loyally and faithfully, as I have been my entire existence."

Kendall blinked. "Wait. You mean you actually SERVE someone WILLINGLY?" He demanded.

"What's his problem?" The Beldam asked.

"Nothing, ma'am. We were in a semi-alliance before he stopped being useful." Samantha waved it off with a smirk.

Kendall's eye twitched.

"_Samantha is probably my most-loyal creation, so seeing her do well out here while acting independently is both expected and surprising." The Beldam said. "It's good to see that she's got her head on straight about what to do when someone like that white rat-thing backed her into a corner."_

"_It's good to have someone I actually LIKE around to talk to for once. Relaying my strategy and gameplay to the Beldam resulted in her giving me some new ideas and confidence on how to do better." Samantha said with a smirk. "Maybe now that I have some new ideas, I'll be able to one-up that stupid monkey."_

"I actually surprised that the producers brought someone onto the show that you didn't like, though." The Beldam noted as she looked at the sleeping form of King Louie.

"I apparently wasn't the only one to get shafted." Kendall said, looking over to where Erica and Jimmy were sitting on a log, not even facing each other.

"Yeah. You've got a point there." Samantha relented.

**(Ocean)**

"Take a look at that, Muttley. There's a whole family out there." Danglars said as he leaned over the railing of the small boat to look at the whales.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." Muttley rasped as he joined with watching the whales.

"_It's neat seeing Muttley around without Dick Dastardly, and it was even neater to see him win something for once." Danglars said. "I think the thought of him actually winning something gave Muttley the determination to pull off the win. Not that I'm complaining, mind you."_

"I'm surprised Dick let you come out here by yourself." Danglars noted. "I would have thought he'd be wanting to come on this trip himself."

Muttley gave another of his trademark evil chuckles as a response. This seemed to tell Danglars all he needed to know.

"I don't like that chuckle, Muttley." Danglars said. "Did you use one of your little pranks on Dick to keep him from coming?" Another chuckle. "I assume that means he's locked in a closet back home, then?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." Muttley rasped again before chuckling.

_Muttley sat in front of the confessional. He didn't talk, but rather continued to do his trademark chuckle._

"_You know what? Muttley won the Reward and I didn't really feel like boring him with strategy. It's not like he'd tell me anything I can understand, anyway." Danglars shrugged. "I decided to just enjoy myself and have some time away from the game."_

"Hey! Look way out there!" Danglars pointed out, leaning way over the railings of the boat. "See that! That has to be the biggest whale of the bunch! I've never seen such a-"

That was all Danglars got out before he realized that he leaned out too far. Danglars toppled over the railings of the boat and into the water. Muttley waited a few seconds before a waterspout burst into the air, carrying Danglars high atop it.

"_**MUTTLEY! DO SOMETHING!"**_ Danglars screamed in fear. _**"ANYTHING!"**_

Muttley paused for a few seconds, looked at the cameraman and gave a sheepish grin. He comically tap-danced for a few seconds and, when he was done, then chuckled again.

**(Exile Island)**

"This is all they did for Exile Island?" The Raider scoffed as he looked around. "Living for a day out here is like child's play!"

"I would know. I've been out here already." Angela nodded before pausing. "By the way, I'm a little curious. Why exactly did you throw the last part of the challenge? I know for a fact you could have won."

"Yeah, but then I remembered what the reward was." The Raider shrugged. "I apologize for not asking you about it, but I assumed you'd prefer the chance to find an idol over looking at some whales."

Angela couldn't help but smirk. "I must admit that you indeed know me."

"_I'm the leader of the Raiders, a group of people some may consider savages. However, we're well-organized and my men look up to me." Angela explained. "Having one of my men out here with me almost makes me feel like I'm back out on the field again, laying waste to whatever crosses me."_

"_It's an honour to be out here with the boss, but it also means that it takes me away from my job, which I know she'll want me doing." The Raider rubbed his head. "Well, since I'm here, I figured that I might as well help the boss with what she needs, which at the moment is finding that idol."_

"I know it's a stupid question, but have you been controlling all the votes, ma'am?" The Raider asked.

"As much as it pains me to say it, no. I controlled a lot of the vote pre-merge, but now there's an insufferable pest that keeps ruining everything and blindsiding my allies." Angela said as she walked over to a spot near a couple of trees. "I think this is the spot."

The Raider quickly went to work on digging. "How is the game looking at the moment?" He asked.

"I've got one ally left and there's another alliance of two. The other two are just dead weight that will probably go before too long, anyway." Angela explained.

The Raider dug a fair-sized hole in the sand, but came up with nothing. "Doesn't look like it's here, ma'am." He explained.

Angela cursed under her breath. "Looks like I got my hopes up for nothing."

"_I know for a fact that I found the right place where the idol was, but since it isn't here that tells me that Erica indeed found it." Angela explained. "So now my plan is back to square one and we need to make her waste it. When I see Danglars tomorrow, I'll be sure to run a few things past him."_

"Just know that we're all rooting for you, ma'am." The Raider explained. "That being said, we all miss you and hope you come back to help us like you always do."

"Of course. Now then, why don't you tell me on what the Raiders have been doing since I've been gone?" Angela said.

Night eventually rolled in. The six remaining players decided to go to bed, knowing that there would be an Immunity Challenge the following day.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 36)**

"_We got to spend the day and night with our guests, which is something I probably would have enjoyed more if it was anyone else as my guest." Erica rolled her eyes. "That Neutron boy and I have never really seen eye to eye and we've always been trying to one-up each other. And now he comes out here and suddenly I find out where he gets a lot of his inspiration…"_

"…And that nuclear-powered toaster of yours is genius!" Jimmy said in awe. "I've been trying to emulate your invention but I haven't been able to perfect it, yet. What's your secret, Mr. Wallace?"

Wallace sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, if I told all of my trade secrets, then I wouldn't be much of an inventor, would I?" He asked.

"All of your inventions are for personal use though, Wallace." Gary lifted an eyebrow. "I don't remember that last time you've tried to make money off of one of your inventions."

"Ah, I suppose you got me there, chap." Wallace shrugged.

"_Mr. Wallace has been inventing things for as long as I can remember, and hearing about the kinds of things he builds just for FUN made me a huge fan." Jimmy admitted. "If he could mass-produce his inventions and sell them, he'd make a fortune."_

"So what is it you DO if you're not making money as an inventor?" Erica asked.

"Currently, Gromit and I are trying a babysitting business." Wallace admitted.

"I thought you two were paper-hangers this time." Gary noted. "I mean, you guys were the ones to wallpaper my house."

"That was two months ago, old boy." Wallace noted. "You know Gromit and I can only keep a job for so long before we decide to do something different."

"Also true."

"Where are the others?" Jimmy asked as he looked around. "I haven't seen them since I got up."

"Don't know; don't care." Erica said. "Frankly, the more they're away from us, the more I can tolerate them."

"Some stuff happen?"

"You have no freaking idea."

"_Kendall and Samantha weren't really doing much since their guests showed up. Samantha was usually off talking to her boss while Kendall was off trying to get that orangutan off his backside." Gary said. "Honestly, it didn't really bother us that much because it just meant that they weren't bugging us."_

"Listen up, everyone. We have treemail." Samantha announced.

"So what type of challenge is it?" Erica asked.

"A trivia challenge, from the sound of things." Samantha replied.

"Works for me. We should head out." Gary nodded.

"Not us, chap. This ends our little visit." Wallace supplied.

"Yeah. We can't go with you to the challenge. We have to go another way for someone to pick us up." The Beldam agreed.

"Win it for the kingdom, Kendall. We're counting on you." King Louie said with a smirk.

"Oh, joy." Kendall sighed.

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The four players at camp emerged from the jungle and into another clearing. Seeing the tribe mat on the ground, they walked over and stepped on.

"Before we begin, let's bring back Danglars, who is back from Reward, and Angela, who is returning from Exile." SSBFreak explained.

Danglars and Angela walked in from opposite sides and joined the others, forming the final six again.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your knowledge of when things happened over the course of this game." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw six three-tiered pedestals behind the host. "I'll ask you a question that the answer is either "Before" or "After". If you think the answer is Before, move to the highest tier of your pedestal, and if you think the answer is After, move to the lowest tier. Whoever gets five questions right first will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The six exchanged glances, knowing that everything came down to how well they knew the game.

"If you'll all take your positions, we can start." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

The final six each stood on the middle tier of their three-tiered platforms, ready to begin.

"Okay. For Immunity, here's the first question…" SSBFreak said. "Real or fake, did the first idol usage happen before or after the first week of competition?"

The six pondered for a few seconds before making their decisions. Kendall and Erica had stepped down to the After pedestal while everyone else had stepped up to the Before pedestals.

"Zeg was the one to use an idol, but it was fake. He also used it on Day 9." SSBFreak said. "Kendall and Erica get a point."

Angela cursed herself. "I thought Ferren would have used one first." She admitted.

"Here's the next question…" SSBFreak said. "Was the first REAL idol used before or after three people had gone to Exile Island?"

Again, people had to think about this. Angela, Erica and Gary moved up to the Before pedestal while the others went down to the After one.

"Tomato was eliminated with the first real idol, and at that point, only two people had gone to Exile." SSBFreak explained. "Angela, Erica and Gary get a point. At this point, Erica leads with two while Danglars and Samantha have yet to score."

"Not off to the best start." Danglars muttered.

"Here's the next question…" SSBFreak said. "Was the second REAL idol used before or after Day 15?"

People really had to think about this question. Danglars, Samantha and Gary moved down to the After pedestals while everyone else went to the Before ones.

"The second real idol was used by Angela and eliminated Mongo, well after day 15." SSBFreak explained. "Danglars and Samantha are on the board while Gary ties with Erica at two."

"Not bad for a complete guess." Gary smiled.

"Here's the next question…" SSBfreak said. "Was Fran-CINE voted out before or after the tribes swapped?"

No one really needed to think about this one. Everyone moved down to the After pedestal.

"You are all indeed correct. Fran-CINE was voted out the episode the tribes swapped, but it was still after." SSBFreak explained. "Everyone gets a point, which means that Gary and Erica have three while everyone else has two."

"Still in this. Still in this." Danglars muttered.

"Here's the next question…" SSBFreak said. "Was the first double-boot before or after Robert was eliminated?"

The finalists seemed split again. After taking a moment to think, Angela and Erica moved to the After pedestals while everyone else went to the Before ones.

"Again, it was close, but the double-boot was the episode after Robert left. Angela and Erica get a point." SSBFreak said. "Erica now has four of the five points needed to win, Angela and Gary are tied with three and everyone else had two."

"This could be over very quickly." Erica said with a smirk.

"Here's the next question…" SSBFreak said. "Did we have the tug-of-war challenge before or after Tomato was voted off?"

The contestants thought for a moment before making their decisions. Kendall, Gary and Angela moved to the Before pedestals while the others went to the Afters.

"The tug-of-war challenge occurred just before Anke was eliminated, who was ousted before Tomato. Kendall, Gary and Angela get a point." SSBFreak explained. "Here's how we stand: Angela, Erica and Gary all have four points. Kendall has three while Danglars and Samantha still have two. Kendall, Danglars and Samantha, you have no chance of winning."

"Just great." Kendall growled as he got down and walked to the side with Danglars and Samantha.

"Okay. To decide the winner, we will have a numerical question. Whoever gets it the closest without going over will win Immunity." SSBFreak said. "In all three of the past seasons, how many votes were cast in total post-merge, not counting the votes for the winner?"

Picking up some tablets, the remaining three players paused in thought for a few painful moments before writing down their answers and showing them to the host. Angela had guess 150, Erica had guessed 175 and Gary had guessed 160.

"The correct answer is 166. Gary is only six away from the correct answer, so he's the closest!" SSBFreak announced. "Gary wins Immunity!"

"That's good to hear." Gary said, satisfied.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Gary. You have a one-in-five chance at winning the game." SSBFreak explained.

"It's good to have it again." Gary nodded.

SSBFreak turned to the others. "Gary is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing you all at tonight's Tribal Council, where another of you will be eliminated from the game." He explained. "Because there are only three days left in the game, it's time to start thinking about the finals and who you want there with you. I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decisions, so you can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"Man. You couldn't find the idol?" Danglars asked.

"No. We're on our own for this one." Angela shook her head.

"So Erica's got it, right?"

"I'm afraid so."

"_Because Angela couldn't find the idol, that means Erica has it, and because Gary has Immunity, she'll know that we're gunning for her." Danglars folded his arms. "If Angela and I can make her waste the idol on herself by voting for Kendall, we may still have a shot at a tiebreaker."_

Samantha came walking over. "So what's the plan?" She asked.

"You're voting with us this time?" Danglars asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry. For now, you can trust me."

"That does little to make me feel better." Angela rolled her eyes.

"Look, for what it's worth, I know they're targeting Danglars." Samantha said. "Angela may be a physical threat, but she's not a jury threat."

Angela was silent before she looked at Danglars. "You'd better make sure you're brushed up on your fire-making skills." She explained.

"_What Samantha said about me not being a jury threat made me think. It's true that I may not be this super-friendly person that people like to vote for, but I have several alliance members on the jury right now." Angela explained with a smirk. "Since Samantha didn't seem to realize that, I decided not to bring it up."_

Meanwhile, Erica was talking to Gary by the waterfall, discussing what they were going to do.

"They're likely expecting you to use the idol." Gary pointed out. "Maybe they'll target Kendall because of it."

"They were able to get us to waste the idol before. That may be what they want us to think." Erica explained. "As soon as I use the idol on Kendall, we'll see three votes for me."

"Hmm…Yeah. Never thought of that." Gary noted.

"So why don't you just give me the idol and I'll use it on myself?" Kendall asked.

"Because I don't trust you to actually play it." Erica said, eyes narrowed. "If I'm giving it to you, I'll play it on you when the time comes."

"_I trust Kendall about as far as Gary can throw him. Luckily for us, Gary can likely throw him a country mile." Erica said with a smirk. "There's no way I'm going to just GIVE him the idol before we go."_

"So how do we know who they're gunning for?" Gary asked.

"That's the thing. We don't." Erica shook her head. "We're just going to have to see how we can read them at Council."

Kendall growled.

"_So much for that idea. I was hoping I could get Erica to give me the idol. That way, she'd be left vulnerable and I'd have a free pass next round." Kendall said. "Looks like I'm not out of the woods yet. I need to pull through this if I'm going to win."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The six remaining players walked into Tribal Council with their torches. Going over to the remaining stumps, everyone sat down and waited for the council to begin.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak explained. "Corey, Amy, Brock, Riddle and Tempo, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Tempo followed the previous jury members into the hut and walked over to the jury bench. Everyone saw that Tempo was now dressed in a formal tuxedo, although his glasses were stil adorning his face. The five jury members sat down on the bench.

"The jury is only here to watch the outcome of the Council. You are not to address them and they will not address you." SSBFreak explained before deciding to start asking questions. "Angela, things obviously haven't been going your way since the merge hit. What exactly happened last time?"

"Samantha hasn't been voting with us like she said she would. That being said, I've come to expect such treachery from her." Angela folded her arms.

"You wound me, Angela. I was simply eliminating a swing vote." Samantha said defensively.

"Why? Because you knew you were a sitting duck otherwise?" Angela quizzed.

"You would have taken him over me. It needed to be done."

"Man. I didn't think I was that much of a threat." Tempo admitted.

"Samantha, what's your story here?" SSBFreak asked.

"I'm just playing the game here. I'm trying to survive, and every vote so far has let me survive because of how I voted." Samantha explained. "You can't fault me for playing the game, you know."

"No, but we can fault you for being a terrible person." Erica muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Big freakin' deal!"

"How exactly does Samantha expect to WIN, anyway?" Brock asked.

"Gary, how was the day with your guest?" SSBFreak asked.

"It was good. I have no complaints." Gary nodded.

"You wouldn't." Erica interjected.

"True. Anyway, it was good seeing Wallace. He and I are good friends, you know." Gary said before laughing. "Although it seemed that Erica's guest spent more time with him than I did."

"Erica, same question. How was your day with your guest?" SSBFreak asked.

"Why the heck did you invite Jimmy? Why not one of my actual FRIENDS?" Erica asked flatly. "I mean, Jimmy and I have never liked each other's personalities, and when he got here, all he did was fawn over Gary's guest like a teenage fangirl at a boy band concert!"

"That goes double for me." Kendall folded his arms. "Why did you invite that lazy oaf of a so-called king, anyway?"

"Because we thought it'd make things interesting, to be honest." SSBFreak shrugged.

"Interesting for YOU, maybe." Erica folded her arms.

"Golly, she ain't happy." Corey noted.

"Danglars, how do you think the vote's going to go?" SSBFreak asked.

"It's going to be three-on-three. We know that." Danglars replied. "Depending on how the vote goes, we'll end up in a tiebreaker. It seems to be between me and Kendall."

"So you're voting for Kendall?"

"Uh…Yeah. It'd be stupid to vote for myself." Danglars said.

"I think they're going to try and make Erica waste the idol." Riddle whispered.

"Kendall, are you confident now that your name has come up?" SSBFreak asked.

"Sort of. Let's just say that this is going to be an interesting vote." Kendall said.

"Okay, I think that's enough questions." SSBFreak said. "Before we continue, I have to ask: Gary, you have Immunity. Will you be giving it to anyone?"

"Sorry, but I'm keeping it."

"With that, Gary is safe and cannot be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak explained. "Angela, you're up."

Angela got up and left the hut to go vote. She walked over to the table, wrote a name down and placed the ballot into the urn.

Kendall wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "With you gone, it's just Angela left standing in my way." He said, having voted for Danglars.

Gary casually wrote a name down and placed it into the urn. Just as quickly as he had come, Gary turned and left the table.

Erica took a deep breath and wrote a name down. "I hope I don't screw this up." She muttered as she placed her ballot into the jar.

Samantha gave a smirk and wrote a name down. "Either way, it doesn't affect me." She shrugged as she voted and left.

Danglars turned his ballot around, revealing Kendall's name. "I hope we can trick Erica into using the idol on herself." He said.

Once all six players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He said.

"Hold up."

Everyone looked at Erica, who had fished the idol from her pocket. "You all said that you were voting for Kendall, so that tells me that you want me to give it to him and that you're voting for me." She explained before pausing. "…However, I'm sure that's what you want me to do to begin with. I'm using the idol on Kendall."

Kendall accepted the idol and took it to the host, handing it over.

"This is indeed the Immunity Idol. All votes cast against Kendall are now void." SSBFreak explained.

Angela muttered something under her breath as Kendall returned to his seat. Danglars looked forlorn. "And now, without further delay, it's time to read the votes…" The host explained.

"…First vote; Kendall. Doesn't count." Erica sighed in relief.

"Kendall. Void." Kendall folded his arms and smirked.

"Kendall. Doesn't count." Angela looked frustrated.

"…Danglars." Danglars looked at the floor. "Next vote, sixth member of the jury and fifteenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Danglars. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Danglars sighed, stood up and grabbed his torch. "Hey. I had fun." He admitted as he approached the host.

"Danglars, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak explained as he extinguished Danglars' torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Time for me to work on some questions." Danglars said as he walked out of the hut without looking back.

Once Danglars was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining five players. "The final six have now become the final five. Three days remain and we still have a bit to do before the finale." He explained. "Keep in mind that all gameplay done from this point out will be without an idol, since it was used for the last time tonight. I'll be seeing you all very soon, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

The five finalists stood up, collected their torches and left Tribal Council. Angela again brought up the rear, looking extremely frustrated at this point, but determined at the same time. She had now lost every ally she had and was now in this by herself. She needed to get her game in gear…

"_Man. Three days short of going all the way. I can't believe how close I was. Well, I had fun and I lasted for almost the whole competition, so I guess I can't really complain." Danglars said. "We tried to make Erica waste the idol, but she didn't take the bait. I can't fault her for being too smart to fall for it."_

**Voting History:**

**Danglars – Erica, Gary and Kendall**

**Kendall – Angela, Danglars and Samantha (VOID)**

**Author's Notes: And Danglars leaves in sixth, leaving us with our final five. Danglars was definitely fun to write for when he got going, but it took a bit for him to get off the ground because I was focusing so much time of the other players for the first five or six episodes. I liked him being the unintentional comic relief, and I really wish that I started writing for him more earlier on so he didn't come off as boring.**

**(Ponderosa)**

The limo drove up to the mansion again. The door opened and out stepped Danglars, although since it was raining at this point he had to use an umbrella on his way to the front door.

"This is some place. Man, I can't wait to kick back and relax." Danglars said to himself as he opened the door and walked inside.

"_Well, I got eliminated. Yeah, I'm let down at not being able to go all the way, but I made it thirty-six days." Danglars said. "Now that I'm out of the game, I just want to relax and not think about anything related to the game. After everything I've been through, I think I've earned it."_

As soon as Danglars entered the front door, Corey arrived at his side and scooped him up in a bone-crushing bearhug. "Aw, man! Ah can't believe how much Ah missed ya around here, Danglars!" She said.

"Spine…Tingling…"Danglars wheezed.

As Corey released Danglars, Amy walked over. "Hey, Danglars. Before we go any further, I just wanted to apologize for suspecting you of voting us out." She said.

Danglar smiled weakly. "H-Hey. No big deal…Ouch…At least you found out."

"_Ever since I found out that it was Tempo that voted us out and not Danglars, I've been feeling a little guilty for not believing him." Amy said. "I was actually somewhat relieved when he was voted out because I wanted to apologize."_

Danglars sat on the couch and started eating as he watched some of the others play a game. "Is there much to do around here other than the video games?" He asked.

"There's a games room down the hall with a billiards table if you wanted to try your luck against me." Riddle said with a smirk.

Danglars opened up a can of pop. "Sounds like a plan. Just let me finish eating and we'll have a round." He said.

"Don't make any bets against him, man." Brock shook his head. "He'll walk all over you."

"Yeah. I didn't know there WERE pool sharks in outer space." Tempo added.

"So how do you think the game's going to go?" Amy asked.

"I don't really know. All I can say is that Angela's going to be extremely determined now that she doesn't have any allies." Danglars admitted.

"_Most of our alliance has been eliminated at this point. Angela's basically by herself now, even though she has a temporary partner with Samantha." Brock said. "But I don't see Angela taking her to the end. Eventually, she'll make Samantha pay for the backstabbings."_

After Danglars finished eating, Tempo approached him, rubbing his head nervously.

"Um…Now that we're both out of the game, I was hoping to let bygones be bygones." Tempo said. "You think you can accept my apology as well? I really felt bad for throwing you under the bus like that."

Danglars paused, then shrugged. "Sure." He said as he held out his hand.

Tempo quickly grabbed Danglars' hand to shake it, but the instant he did, he received an electric shock. Tempo yelped and withdrew his hand as Danglars laughed.

"What was that?" Tempo asked in shock.

"My luxury item." Danglars said, showing Tempo a joy buzzer. "Just needed to get it out of my system. Don't worry, though; we're good."

"_Yeah, bringing a joy buzzer as a luxury item may seem strange, but it's good for a few laughs and I said that I wanted it delivered to either the Loser's Lodge or Ponderosa depending on how far I made it." Danglars laughed. "Hey, I don't like keeping a grudge, but that felt good."_


	15. Day 37

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_That couldn't have gone any better. Not only did we not waste the idol, but one of Ventala's players ended up getting eliminated because of it." Kendall said with a smirk. "I now have the majority and all I need to do is keep Angela from winning the next Immunity and I'll be good."_

Angela was oddly silent as the final five returned to camp. Gary was the only one that really noticed this and watched her go to sit down under a tree.

"Hmm…I wonder what her deal is." Gary said.

"She's just upset that she's lost every ally she had and knows it's pointless to even try now." Kendall said. "Personally, I can't wait until the next council."

Gary cast a surprisingly-mad glance at Kendall, but didn't press matters any further. Gary walked over alone.

"_I don't like seeing people let down, and seeing all of the losses Angela's been going through since we merged makes me wonder how she's taking it." Gary said. "I mean, she's a strong woman that is probably used to surviving, so losing so many allies must be taking its toll on her by now."_

"You feeling a little let down?" Gary asked Angela.

Angela clenched her fists. "I led them all to their elimination." She hissed. "Every ally I had is now gone."

Gary gave a shrug. "It's not your fault, you know." He said. "It's just the way things went."

Angela looked up, eyes narrowed. "I'd like to propose a deal." She said darkly. "I would like to join you and Erica temporarily. I want to take Kendall down for what he's done."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how that would benefit Erica and I."

"Because in return, I'll help you vote out Samantha."

"_I controlled the entire pre-merge, and as soon as the merge hit, I've lost ally after ally and now it's just me left standing." Angela folded her arms. "While Kendall is the prime guilty party for this, I wouldn't be in this situation at all if it weren't for Samantha. If I'm to exact vengeance on those that have wronged me, I need to align with people I normally wouldn't."_

"You'd be willing to sell out your last ally?" Gary asked.

"Samantha's no ally of mine. She was directly responsible for eliminating a number of my allies simply so she could make herself needed." Angela said. "I want her to pay as much as Kendall."

Meanwhile, Samantha was off at the shelter, looking rather indifferent. Kendall saw this and came over.

"I bet you're wishing that you stuck with me." Kendall said with a smirk.

"You wish, short stuff. It's only a minor setback that I don't have the majority." Samantha said.

"Tough talk when you consider there's three of us and two of you." Kendall taunted.

"Save it! You think I'm taking this lying down?" Samantha asked. "You've got another thing coming! Just watch yourself, you twerp! A world of pain will soon be unleashed directly on top of you!"

"I'm sure it will." Kendall said. "Goodnight."

"_While I'm indifferent to Danglars going like he did, it puts me in a bad position since I'm in the minority again." Samantha said. "I may have to rely on my words again. Maybe I can convince the others to turn on Kendall or something…"_

The final five decided to go to bed. Knowing that there were only a few days left, a challenge had to be coming soon…

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 37)**

"Angela wants to align with us to vote out the others?" Erica asked.

"That's what she told me last night." Gary shrugged. "I guess she always wants to take down the people that wronged her."

"And because they've made it their goal to advance further, it's Kendall and Samantha." Erica said with a smirk. "Hmm…This could be good."

"_Gary tells me that Angela wants to take out Samantha as long as we do the same to Kendall. I'm fine with that because Gary and I still outnumber Angela afterwards." Erica said. "We know that she's getting desperate to align with us, but we know not to expect any sneaky tricks since the idol's been used for the last time already."_

"So what's the plan for that?" Erica asked. "Suppose Angela IS telling the truth."

"I think the plan is to just vote for whoever doesn't win Immunity." Gary shrugged. "We'll have to see how things go."

Meanwhile, Samantha was off talking to Angela by the shelter, discussing their next move.

"Our only chance at the moment is to get the others to turn on Kendall." Samantha said.

"I know. I've already pitched the idea to Gary." Angela replied.

"And…What did he say?"

"I think we may be able to sway them yet."

"_Angea tells me that she's been able to get Gary and Erica to turn on Kendall, but I dn't believe it. They won't turn on each other that quickly…Unless…Unless they're just as fed up with Kendall as I am." Samantha noted. "Hmm…Well, if I can at least even the odds, then I've got a chance."_

"We basically need to make sure Kendall doesn't win Immunity." Angela said. "At least it would be easier to get their votes at that point."

"Yeah. Otherwise, their only targets would be one of us."

"_I'm not telling Samantha about my plan to send her packing as well for obvious reasons or that the possibility of voting her out is the only way I got Gary and Erica's attention to begin with." Angela smirked. "There are only three days left, so they won't have a lot of time to strategize. This could be the window of opportunity I need."_

"Looks like we've got some treemail." Kendall announced as he walked into camp.

"That didn't take long. We really ARE approaching the end." Erica noted.

"It's wondering if we're good at carrying and counting at the same time." Kendall read.

"The carrying part has me worried." Erica sighed.

"You and me both." Kendall muttered.

"_I'm sure I'd be able to beat out everyone else here if it came down to numbers. However, the treemail said carrying would be involved somehow." Kendall folded his arms. "I'm not particularly looking forward to that aspect, but we'll just have to see how things go."_

**(Immunity Challenge)**

The final five emerged from the jungle and walked out into another clearing. Stepping onto the tribe mat, they awaited the challenge to begin.

"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your abilities of multitasking as we test your counting and weightlifting skills." SSBFreak explained. Everyone saw five large scales behind the host, as well as a large pile of numbered bricks. "Each of those bricks has a value on them: 50, 20 and 10. That's how many pounds they weigh. Your goal is to get two thousand pounds EXACTLY weighed in on your scale, and you only have your mind to calculate how much you have. When you think you have the required 2,000 pounds, hit the button on your scale and we'll test it. Whoever gets the required 2,000 pounds first will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."

The reaction to the challenge seemed mixed. Those that were good carriers were dreading the calculating and the thinkers were dreading the weightlifting.

"If you'll all take your positions, we can begin." SSBFreak said.

The five players went over to the scales and chose one, turning to face the huge pile of bricks.

"Okay. For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "…Go!"

The five contestants quickly ran over to the pile of bricks and started searching. Gary and Angela, the two strongest, grabbed what they could and simply carried them back to their scales, while the weaker Erica and Kendall were forced to carry only one or two bricks at a time. Samantha appeared to be somewhere in the middle, not taking as many bricks as Gary and Angela but still holding her own.

Angela reached her scale first and simply plopped her armload on her scale before quickly sifting through them to see what she had collected.

"Okay…That's…170 pounds." Angela said after some thinking.

Gary, in the meantime, took the time to separate the bricks he brought into stacks. He put two fifties together and put the rest of the twenties in a separate pile on the scale and observed.

"Okay. Two fifties and three tweinties is 160 pounds." Gray said. "Two more twenties and I'll have another full hundred."

Samantha rushed back to her scale and placed the bricks she had collected onto it, only then realizing that she had only grabbed a fifty and a couple of twenties.

The button-eyed woman growled. "Only ninety pounds?" She asked herself. "How can I catch the others at this rate?"

Erica was having trouble carrying the heavier bricks back to her scale, as she was attempting to carry enough to keep up. However, by the time Erica got to her scale, Gary and Angela were already coming back with another armload.

Erica quickly counted what she had collected. "Ugh. That's only seventy pounds." She moaned.

Kendall, having taken the time to grab only fifties, was coming back with two bricks in his hands. Of course, by the time Kendall arrived at his scale, Erica and Samantha were going back for seconds while Angela and Gary were counting.

"Looks like everyone is in a rhythm. It could still go any way, to be honest." SSBFreak said.

As Angela raced back to the pile for another round, Gary separated the bricks he had collected into more stacks. By this point, he had three stacks of fifties two bricks high, and a smaller mound of five twenties. Two lone twenties and a ten were starting new piles.

"Okay. Three stacks of two fifties is three-hundred, and one pile of five twenties is another hundred." Gary said. "Add the three loose bricks and I've got 450 pounds." He noted, looking in thought. "Okay. I'm making good progress."

The five finalists continued to work at the challenge, trying to carry as much as they could back to their scales and count them when they got there. Kendall appeared to be the only one taking his time because he was focused on taking only fifties and was tossing aside the twenties and tens.

Samantha raced back to the scales and counted out what she had. She growled. "Why am I not getting high numbers?" She cursed herself. "I shouldn't just grab the first ones I see out there…"

Angela, in the meantime, also raced back to her scale and put the weights she had collected down. She raced through the counting in her head to see what she had.

"Okay. I've got about 500 pounds." Angela mused. "If I can keep up the pace, I should be good."

Gary returned to his scale again with another armload and moved the bricks into corresponding stacks again before he was satisfied enough to move on and continue.

Samantha and Erica returned to the scales and unloaded what they had collected. Tallying up their totals, Samantha had a slight edge over Erica, but not by a lot.

"If both of the others overshoot their mark, I could still win." Samantha muttered to herself as she raced back to the pile.

Kendall ran back with another few fifties, although it looked like he was really struggling to hold all three of them. He finally made it back to his scale and put them down. Without bothering to stay and count, Kendall ran back to the pile to continue.

The five players continued to build up piles of bricks on their scales. Pretty soon, both Gary and Angela had both accumulated over a thousand pounds, leaving Erica, Kendall and Samantha completely in the dust. The only thing that was keeping the three trailing players going was the thought of both the leaders overshooting their goal and having to make adjustments.

"So far, both Angela and Gary have a commanding lead over the others, and are pretty much neck-and-neck with each other." SSBFreak announced. "Depending on if there are any mess-ups, this could be close."

Gary finished separating his latest armload of bricks into piles and quickly counted again. "Okay…That's about 1,200 pounds." He said.

Angela, having overheard this, quickly counted the weights she had and smirked. "Looks like I've got almost a hundred pounds more." She noted. "I need to keep up the pace."

"Stupid weightlifting challenge." Kendall growled as he trudged back to his scale with three more fifties. "The one challenge I need to keep Angela from winning and I can't even do anything to help myself win!"

Erica groaned as she loaded up her scale again and counted what she had collected. "There's no way I can win this one. Even Samantha's probably miles ahead of me at this point." She moaned, but retreated back to the pile nonetheless.

Samantha grabbed a couple of twenties from the pile and grabbed a fifty before running back, knowing that she's waste too much time trying to find specific bricks at this point. "So long as I can keep well enough ahead, I've got a chance." She muttered.

"Gary and Angela are still way out in front." SSBFreak announced. "From the looks of things, they're both closing in on their goal."

Gary counted what he had after delivering another round. Okay. That's about 1,500 pounds. A couple more rounds and I should have it." He noted as he ran back.

Angela, at the same time, counted her latest haul. "That should be about 1,650 pounds." She mused before running back to the pile.

"How the heck are they not tired after all of this?" Erica moaned.

It was becoming apparent that Erica and Kendall were falling too far behind to catch up as Gary and Angela were building their lead every time they loaded up the scales. Samantha, although also falling behind, was much closer to winning than the other trailing players and was running on the hope the Gary and Angela would make a mistake.

Gary and Angela ran back with more weights and loaded up their scales. While Angela simply added her current armload to the total she had, Gary still split the bricks into stacks and piles.

"Just one more round and I should have it." Angela said as she ran back to the pile of bricks. Gary trailed behind a bit, but was still right behind her.

Kendall looked at how the others were doing and finally decided that he had no chance of catching up. "I'm done. I wasn't built for this task." Kendall growled.

"Yeah. There's no way I can catch up either." Erica finally admitted.

"Kendall and Erica are dropping out. It's a three-person race now." SSBFreak announced.

Samantha grit her teeth, knowing that her chances of winning were slim without a mistake from the others at this point. Samantha dropped her current armload of weights onto her scale and quickly counted them.

"I'm getting there." Samantha said as she ran back to the pile.

Angela, running back with her last armload of weights, put them all on the scale and quickly pressed the button on it to signal that she had 2,000 pounds. As Gary and Samantha continued to work, Angela waited as a few seconds ticked by.

A loud buzzing was suddenly heard. Angela didn't like the sound of it.

"Angela doesn't have the correct amount. She made a mistake in her counting." SSBFreak announced.

Angela's eyes widened. "But…But how?" She demanded as she quickly started counting all of the weights on her scale.

Gary was on his way back to his scale with his last armload of bricks. He placed all of the bricks with their corresponding piles and counted the stacks as a whole to see how much he ended up with.

"Twelve stacks of two fifties are 1,200 pounds." Gary said. "Six piles of five twenties is another 600, and two piles of ten tens is 200…That should be 2,000."

Gary pressed the button on his scale and waited patiently for a few seconds. Another buzzing was suddenly heard, but it was much-more cheerful than the buzzer that was heard from Angela's scale.

"Gary has 2,000 pounds! That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Gary wins Immunity!"

Gary nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, all things considered." He said. Angela held her head in frustration.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Gary. You have a one-in-four chance at winning the game." SSBFreak explained as he gave the Immunity Necklace to Gary.

"Thanks. I've really come a long way." Gary nodded.

SSBFreak turned to the remaining four players. "Gary is safe tonight, but I'll once again be seeing you all tonight at Tribal Council, where another of you will be voted out. This late in the game, it's always best to decide who the threats are and who to take to the end. I'll give you the rest of the day to decide, but for now, you can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_I didn't win Immunity, but the important thing is that Angela didn't win it, either. It was close, but Gary won it in the end." Kendall said with a smirk. "Now I can put the final step in my plan into motion and get Angela voted out. With three-on-two, it should be easy with no more idols around."_

"So we're going to vote out Angela." Kendall checked. "We need to take her out now while we have the chance."

"Really?" Erica asked suspiciously. "We've had the chance to vote her out for a while. We just haven't."

"Look, we all know that they're gunning for you since Gary has Immunity." Kendall said. "Unless you want to enforce a tiebreaker, I suggest you vote with me and vote out Angela."

Gary shrugged. "He has a point." He admitted.

"_Kendall's acting real smug, but he had a point…If Angela didn't outright tell us herself that she was voting for Kendall." Erica said. "Normally, you'd suspect Angela of lying, but after seeing everything Kendall and Samantha put her through, I don't really see her voting for anyone else tonight."_

"Then I'll leave you to think about it." Kendall said. "Just remember that we're only two days away from the end and we can make it a final three between us in the end."

With that, Kendall walked off. Just after her left, Angela and Samantha came walking in from another direction.

"It's time we put that little shrimp in his place." Samantha said. "Look, I know that we've never really gotten along, but how about we vote together one more time to get rid of Kendall?"

"I'll admit that he's had this coming for a while." Erica folded her arms. "Okay. But just one more time, okay?"

"That's fine with me." Samantha smirked.

"_I've been waiting a long time for this. I really hope that Gary and Erica are truthful about joining forces, because I really want to wipe that stupid smirk off that monkey's face." Samantha said with a dark grin. "I'll get the last laugh here, and I'll make absolute certain that happens."_

"But what about tomorrow? That would leave us with a two-on-two tiebreaker no matter how you look at it." Gary supplied.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Angela said.

"_Samantha doesn't need to know that I plan on selling her out, and I made certain that Gary and Erica wouldn't tell her anything either. Not that they WOULD, though." Angela shrugged. "Selling out Samantha is basically the only way I could convince them to side with me and vote out Kendall. All I can say is that this Tribal Council will definitely be unexpected."_

**(Tribal Council)**

The five finalists walked into Tribal Council, once again carrying their torches. Seeing that there was only five stumps remaining, everyone sat down to begin.

"Before we start, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak explained. "Corey, Amy, Brock, Riddle, Tempo and Danglars, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Danglars followed the other jury members into the hut, although he looked pretty different. He was now wearing a blue suit with white gloves, and had not only slicked his spikey hair back, but dyed it black at the same time. The jury members sat down on the far bench again.

"The jury is only here to watch the outcome of the Council. They will not address you and you are not to address them." SSBFreak explained before deciding to start asking questions. "Angela, every time you've been here since we merged, you've lost an ally. How are you holding up?"

"As well as you'd expect from someone who's lost every single ally in the game in a span of eleven days." Angela folded her arms. "Seriously, I'm basically on my own now while only doing minimal damage to the other alliance."

"Don't worry. You'll be seeing them soon." Kendall said with a smirk.

"Don't start with me!" Angela snapped.

"You know it to be true. You may as well admit it."

"Kendall, what makes you seem so certain here?" SSBFreak asked.

"Angela's too much of a physical threat to keep in the game and I'm sure that Gary and Erica see it by now." Kendall said.

"You just want to vote me off and be the last Ventala player standing." Angela accused.

"Who the heck said that?" Kendall asked.

"Uh…I did, brainiac." Samantha said with a smirk, raising her hand. "After I ditched you, I told Angela your little plan."

Kendall growled. "Like it matters. Angela's still going anyway."

"Wow. Never would have expected that from Samantha." Brock noted.

"Samantha, where are you sitting in this?" SSBFreak asked.

"Anywhere away from Kendall at the moment. Dumping him was the best decision I've made thus far in the contest." Samantha said.

"Better than voting out all of us?" Amy folded her arms.

"Care to tell us what's going on with him?" SSBFreak asked.

"Eh, he has this idea that if he's the only Ventala player in the finals, the other Ventala players will automatically vote for him or something." Samantha replied.

This seemed to catch the entire jury by surprise. "What?" Danglars said. "Is that seriously what he's been trying?"

Kendall growled. "That's not how I worded it, Samantha."

"Uh…Yeah, it was. You told me about that stupid plan several times as if you were trying to drill it into my head." Samantha replied with a smirk.

"How did he expect to get any votes, anyway?" Tempo asked.

"Erica, how do you think the vote's going to go?" SSBFreak asked.

"It could be close. I'll say that much." Erica noted. "Or it could end in a landslide. We never really know."

"Except that we all know how the vote's going to go." Samantha folded her arms.

"Indeed we do." Kendall smirked.

"Shut up. Both of you." Erica said flatly.

"Gary, you won Immunity again. You think you need it this late in the game?" SSBFreak asked.

"I think so. Immunity is something that I guess everyone wants and needs this late in the game." Gary noted. "Hey, I'm just glad I have it because the challenge was real close."

"Okay. I think that's enough questions." SSBFreak said. "Before I continue, I have to ask: Gary, you have Immunity. Are you keeping it?"

"I think so."

"With that, Gary is immune and cannot be voted out." SSBFreak said. "Angela, you're up."

Angela got up and left to go vote. She scribbled down a name and showed it to the camera. "I should have done this way sooner." She said, having voted for Kendall.

Erica approached the voting table and wrote a name down. She quickly put it into the jar and left as quick as she had come.

Gary, like always, walked casually up to the table and wrote a name down. Like usual, he was silent as he placed his vote into the urn and walked away.

Kendall wrote a name down and revealed Angela's name. "My plan will come to fruition one way or another." He warned as he voted and left the table.

Samantha was smirking as she wrote a name down. "Payback time." She said simply as she voted and walked away.

Once all five players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Kendall." Kendall cast a glance at Angela.

"Kendall." Kendall glared at Samantha, who waved cockily.

"…Angela. It's 2-1." Angela held her breath.

"…Kendall." Kendall eyes snaped open in horror. "Last vote, seventh member of the jury and sixteenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Kendall. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Kendall sat in shock, wondering what had just happened. Finally, he roared in fury and leapt to his feet. "You…You ruined everything! All of you!" He shouted.

Angela's response was to flip Kendall off. "Go die somewhere, fleabag." She said casually.

Kendall growled, grabbed his torch and stalked over to the host.

"Kendall, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Kendall's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"You're all dead to me!" Kendall roared as he stormed out of Tribal Council.

Once Kendall was gone, SSBFreak turned to the others. "Kendall obviously didn't see that coming and I'm sure most of you have been waiting for that moment for a long time." He explained. "Normally, this is where I'd say that you could all head back to camp, but we're not even close to being done here."

The final four's eyes widened.

"It's time for another Immunity Challenge."

"_This is wrong on so many levels. My plan was flawless and I almost made it happen! Samantha, I blame everything on you, because if you didn't desert me, I wouldn't be here right now!" Kendall snapped. "I honestly don't care who wins, and I'd rather not give my vote to anyone there!"_

**(Tribal Council)**

The final four found themselves set up in front of small fire pits, each with a line of rope strung between two posts.

"Here's the goal of this challenge. When I start the challenge, you will simply need to make a fire as fast as you can and make it as big as possible." SSBFreak explained. "You have to burn through the rope overtop of your fire pit, and the first person that does so will win Immunity and be safe from the vote that will happen right after the challenge."

Looking amongst each other, the final four waited in anticipation. The jury looked anxious as well.

"For Immunity, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"

The final four quickly went to work and started making a fire. Using the provided flint, the four contestants strted their attempts to make a fire, with varying success. Within a matter of seconds two fires had lit up, and shortly after that, the others started showing signs of lighting.

"Looks like it's anyone's game." SSBFreak said. "All four players have started a fire. Now they just need to make it big enough to burn through the rope."

Seeing that they had built a fire, the contestants were now making the attempt to make it bigger. Angela and Erica were proving to make fire the easiest while Samantha and Gary were starting to fall behind.

Narrowing her eyes in determination, Erica continued on and tried harder, trying to build on the fire that she had started. She was definitely making progress, but Angela was right on par with her. Angela, in the meantime, was steadily building her fire to make it bigger and more-powerful.

Struggling to create a fire, Samantha was already looking frustrated. She mad managed to get one started, but she was rapidly losing it with her attempts to make it bigger, and Gary wasn't doing that much-better, although he obviously looked less-frustrated than Samantha.

The jury watched the challenge from afar, looking at who was doing what. The jury looked at the players, wondering who would win.

Slowly, Erica and Angela were building their fires bigger, showing that it was indeed a race between the two of them. Gary was slowly managing to build his fire, but his was still much-smaller than the two leaders'. Samantha was far behind at this point and had barely gotten her fire past igniting it.

"At this point, it's between Angela and Erica." SSBFreak announced.

The two contestants exchanged glances for a brief moment, but otherwise remained focused on their fires. The fires were getting bigger at this point and were almost starting to touch the ropes that needed to be burnt through.

"Just a little more…" Erica muttered.

Samantha was still struggling with her fire, but had by now started to get a fire building. She was still far-behind everyone else, but she was at least making progress. At this point, Gary's fire was slowing down and Gary was having a harder time making it any bigger.

By now, both Angela and Erica's fires were touching the ropes and were starting to burn through them. The two contestants started making their fires bigger in an attempt to burn the ropes faster as the jury watch with anticipation, seemingly forgetting about Gary and Samantha altogether.

"It's down to the wire. It's anyone's game at this point." SSBFreak said.

Time seemed to crawl by for everyone as they waited for someone to win the challenge. The two clear frontrunners were struggling to get their fire bigger and it still seemed that it could go either way.

Suddenly, one of the ropes snapped, being burnt through. The next person's rope still remained intact by about half the rope.

Angela cheered in victory as she watched her fire burn through the rope. Erica sighed.

"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Angela wins Immunity!"

Several members of the jury cheered for Angela as SSBFreak gave her the necklace.

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Angela. You now nave a one-in-three chance at winning the game." SSBFreak said before looking at the others. "And now, without giving anyone time to strategize, it's time to vote once again. Remember that Angela is immune and cannot be voted out. Angela, you're up again."

Angela nodded, got up and left the hut to go vote. She quickly wrote a name down with a smirk, put the ballot into the urn and walked away.

Erica wrote a name down and turned it around. "I can just hope that Angela wasn't lying earlier." She said, having voted for Samantha.

Samantha wrote a name down and revealed Gary's name. "Consider this a compliment, Gary. You're a jury threat." She explained as she voted and walked away.

Gary approached the table and wasted no time in writing another name down. Placing his ballot into the urn, he walked off again.

Once all four players voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained. "It's time to read the votes…"

"…First vote; Samantha." Samantha folded her arms.

"Samantha." The council was silent.

"…Gary. It's 2-1." Gary took a deep breath.

The council was silent, wondering if it would end in a tie…

"…Final vote, eighth member of the jury and seventeenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

"…Samantha. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Samantha's eyes widened as she looked at Angela. "You…You sold me out?" She asked.

"Eye for an eye, Samantha. You've voted out almost my entire alliance." Angela said with a smirk.

Samantha growled. "Well, see if that does you any favours, you fool. You've made my hitlist." She said as she stood up, grabbed her torch and brought it to the host.

"Samantha, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Samantha's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"You all suck!" Samantha shouted as she stormed out of Tribal Council in a similar fashion to Kendall.

Once Samantha was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "And so ends a fierce Tribal Council where two of the biggest players of the season go back to back. I really didn't see that coming, and it looks like they didn't either." He explained. "There are three of you left, but we still have one more challenge to get out of the way. I'll see you all tomorrow for said challenge, but for now, you can head back to camp."

The three finalists stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council, looking pleased with the results. They had just blndsided the two most-overconfident players in the game, and if those two hadn't been so wrapped up in taking each other out, maybe they would have seen it coming…

"_I'm mad beyond all reason! I was two days from the finals! I could have easily won if I made it to the end!" Samantha said. "My entire game was ruined tonight, and I hope you all pay dearly for what you've done! I've never been so humiliated in my life!"_

**Voting History 1:**

**Kendall – Angela, Erica, Gary and Samantha**

**Angela – Kendall**

**Voting History 2:**

**Samantha – Angela, Erica and Gary**

**Gary – Samantha**

**Author's Notes: And with that, the two big villains of the season go back-to-back. Their reluctant alliance was one of my favourite parts of the season, but they were too focused on eliminating each other at the end that they didn't see the double-blindside coming.**

**Kendall was an interesting character to write for. He didn't care about anyone in the game and played solely to further himself. I knew that I had a big villain on my hands when I got the application, but considering his personality, one that didn't have a shot at winning. Many people were waiting for this, but I needed to make the blindside late in the game to make the elimination satisfying.**

**Samantha was a great character and I enjoyed writing for may have seemed like she was getting a redemption arc when she aligned with Kendall, but I think it was more her re-planning her gameplay so that she wouldn't be a target. I think it worked.**

**So who was the bigger villain? I guess it's more your opinion on what they were like. Personally, I consider Samantha the main villain because she had a better handle on the game than Kendall.**

**(Ponderosa)**

The limo drove up to the mansion again. Pulling up to the front door, the back doors opened and out stepped Kendall and Samantha. The two looked at each other in anger.

"Well, that was the quietest ride ever." Samantha folded her arms.

"You ruined my game. Why would I talk to you?" Kendall asked as he walked towards the front door.

"_So I just got blindsided, which was definitely something I wasn't counting on. I was expecting to be answering question in the end instead of asking them." Kendall growled. "Samantha ruined everything for me, but at least I can take a bit of solice in knowing that she got the boot right after I did."_

The two new boots entered the mansion, only to see that no one was there to greet them.

"Uh…Hello?" Samantha asked.

"Over here." Riddle called out. Kendall and Samantha turned to see that Tempo, Danglars, Brock and Amy were playing another game while Riddle and Corey were watching.

"Why didn't anyone come over to greet us?" Kendall asked, annoyed.

"Because no one really cared enough to bother." Riddle shrugged.

"_Seeing Kendall and Samantha go back to back was pleasing to watch, but it left us with a problem. We'd be forced to spend the next two nights with them." Riddle sighed. "Then again, I'm sure we're all glad that neither of them made it to the end so we didn't have to choose between them."_

"Tell us again, Kendall, of why you thought your plan was a good idea." Danglars said. "I mean, we were all talking it out, and even if we HADN'T known about that idea of yours, you would have gotten ZERO votes."

"You say that now. I'm sure that-" Kendall folded his arms.

Amy was quick to cut him off by grabbing Kendall by the scruff of his neck and holding him off the ground. "Listen to me, you little weasel. None of us even LIKED you! Even if you DID make the finals, you would have lost unanimously to ANYONE ELSE." She snarled.

Samatha's eyes widened in surprise. "Even me?" She asked.

"Yeah. Samantha, none of us would have voted for you, either. The only exception was if you and Kendall were the final two, in which case you would have won unanimously." Amy replied.

Samantha was silent for a few seconds before screaming in fury.

"_Seriously? If I had stuck by that little flea-wridden rat and gone to the end with him, I would have WON?" Samantha asked in horror. "Ugh! I can't believe this! If I believed in karma, I'd bet that whoever's in charge of it all is having a cruel laugh at my expense!"_

"Whatever. I'm done with that stupid game and I'm done trying to be nice." Kendall said. "Just for the record, I hate every single one of you."

"Same here, and that includes you." Samantha said, glaring down at Kendall.

"Yeesh. You both have some serious issues to work out." Tempo said.

"Maybe I should stick them in the same room as my aunt. She'd probably annoy them to the brink of insanity." Danglars smirked.

"Aunt?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. Her name's Audrey. You met her before." Danglars noted. "Oh. Did I forget to mention that?"

"AUDREY is your AUNT?" Amy and Brock asked flatly.

"_There was this clinically insane blonde woman that Brock and I played against back in Survivor: Fan Characters. Her name was Audrey and she constantly rambled on about how she was evil and that she would control the world." Amy said. "How the freaking heck can Danglars even be RELATED to that woman?"_

"Well, I've had it here. I'm grabbing some food and locking myself in my room to stay away from you louts." Kendall said, walking past the group.

"Me as well. I'm choosing a room on the other side of the mansion!" Samantha snapped.

"Good luck with that, y'all." Corey laughed. "Seein' as how yer ROOMIES and all."

Kendall and Samantha froze in horror as they looked at the others. "WHAT." They said flatly.

"Yeah. The only room that hasn't been spoken for is a two-bed room." Corey laughed.

"Sucks to be you." Brock smirked, not taking his eyes off the game.

_Samantha sat in front of the camera, eye twitching. "I hate them. I hate them all SO MUCH!" She roared._


	16. Day 38

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"_That was SO SATISFYING. I've been waiting all month to do that, and I finally did it. I voted out Samantha!" Erica cheered. "I'm real glad that Angela was true to her word to backstab Samantha like that, because I would be freaking MAD if she was tricking us just so we could get rid of Kendall."_

"So you were telling the truth about Samantha, then." Erica said.

"Of course. Like I said, Samantha did just as much damage to my alliance as Kendall." Angela folded her arms. "I don't care if I could win easily against her. There was no way I would give her the satisfaction of making it to the end."

"Well, I'm glad that, even for once, we could get along and vote unanimously." Gary nodded. "I don't think that's happened all season."

"Yeah, and to think we'd have to unanimous votes back to back." Erica smirked. "That just made it more awesome."

"Those two have had it come for a long time. I certainly don't regret it." Angela shook her head.

"_My mission is complete. I made Samantha pay for what she did and sent her packing as soon as we got rid of Kendall. I should be thankful that we had a last-minute challenge like that." Angela said. "Of course, this could put me at a disadvantage against the others, but I'm willing to take that chance. I've survived worse."_

The three finalists sat in front of the campfire, looking at each other cautiously.

"So this is it. The final three." Angela nodded. "I admit that we've all been through a lot to come this far."

"It's still not done yet." Erica shook her head. "We got one more challenge tomorrow. That means it's a final two and not a final three."

Gary gave a shrug. "Just making it this far is good enough for me." He noted.

"You say that about EVERYTHING, Gary." Erica rolled her eyes.

"Then you should know that it's just who I am." Gary supplied.

"I know. I know."

"_Wow. We've certainly come a long way, haven't we? I mean, I would have been satisfied with my performance no matter where I was ousted after the merge, but here I am in the final three." Gary smiled. "Well, I guess that both Angela and Erica will be coming at me with full force in tomorrow's challenge, so I should probably not hold anything back, either."_

"Well, how about we turn in? We've got a challenge tomorrow and the sleep will at least be more-pleasant." Gary noted.

"Yeah, with Kendall and Samantha both gone." Erica smirked.

The final three went to bed, knowing that they needed to prepare for the final challenge of the competition.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 38)**

Angela walked to treemail alone. Gary was relazing by the shelter and Erica was washing her face by the small lake. Angela pondered a few things as she walked to get treemail.

"My only chance is to win the challenge." Angela muttered. "I need to make it count."

"_In voting out Samantha, I put myself into a situation. It's two-on-one now, and if I lose Immunity, I know I'm gone since the others obviously like each other more than me." Angela rolled her eyes. "But if you think I'm going to grovel to those two and try and get them to turn on each other, think again. I just need to try harder to win Immunity."_

"But if I win…Who do I take?" Angela muttered. "Who would I have the best chance against?"

Meanwhile, Gary was still relaxing as Erica came over.

"Gary, we need to talk about the challenge coming up." Erica said.

"Sure. What is it?" Gary asked.

"If either of us wins, we need to take out Angela." Erica instructed. "If she makes the finals, she…She could possibly win…"

"_I just realized that most of the Ventala players that made the merge were ALIGNED with Angela, thus making them probable locked votes for her in the end." Erica folded her arms. "If it's two Ferren members in the end, at least we'll be able to split the votes. If Angela has a number of votes already, I'm not sure if I could beat her in the end…"_

"_I guess it's the nature of Survivor. Only one manages to avoid elimination, after all. I should be used to it by now." Gary admitted. "Angela's a fierce competitor, but when Erica said that she may have locked votes already, it makes her a bit of a target. I guess the only thing Erica and I can do is keep her from winning."_

"Just keep it in your mind, Gary." Erica said. "We can do this if we stick together until the end."

"That's fine with me." Gary shrugged.

"Looks like we've got treemail." Angela said as she approached the others.

"Time for the final challenge, then?" Erica asked.

"Yes, but apparently we have to go a special way to the challenge and pay our respects to the ones that were eliminated previously." Angela said.

"Oh. The path of fallen comrades, then?" Gary asked, forming a smile. "I've been looking forward to this."

"We may as well head out and get it done with, then." Erica nodded.

"_I've got a lot riding on the challenge. If I lose, I may as well turn in my torch then and there, because I don't see the others voting against each other." Angela folded her arms. "I think I have what it takes to win one more challenge, though."_

"_For me to have any decent shot in this final challenge, it can't be about physical strength. Thinking challenges I'm fine with and endurance challenges I'm fine with." Erica said. "I can win this if I'm determined enough, and considering that it's the last challenge, you can bet that I'm determined."_

"_Yeah, I'll be giving it my all at the challenge because I know the others will be doing the same, but hey, if I don't win, I'm not complaining." Gary shrugged. "It's just that if I don't win, I'm fairly sure that Angela will be gunning for me. I know I should be comfortable with my position, but you never know what happens in this game."_

**(Rites of Passage)**

The final three walked onto a long path in the jungle. They saw that they were on a long, winding, and yet set, path, which would inevitably lead to the final challenge. The three also saw that, at various points on the path, there were unlit torches sticking out of the ground, each one with a picture of a previous castaway attatched to it.

"Well, here we are." Erica said. "We may as well get started. There's a lot to do."

"It'll be fun to reminisce about past contestants." Gary said in satisfaction.

"The first torch should be over here." Angela said.

"Oh, great. I know exactly who it is, as well." Erica said flatly.

The final three approached the first torch, showing that the picture attached to it was that of a long-nosed man with a stupid look on his face.

"Ah, yes. The walking death trap." Angela noted. "I still remember that little incident at the first challenge."

"I still don't get how the guy was dumb enough to light his own raft on fire." Erica moaned. "I'm just glad that we got rid of him first."

"I have to agree there. He likely would have cost us a lot more if he stayed around." Gary nodded.

"If he was on my team, I probably would have tried to get rid of him first as well." Angela said. "I suppose I should be thankful that Tempo chose him."

"Likely as fodder, to be honest."

"Can we move on, please?" Erica asked as she kept walking. "I think the eyes on Sally's picture are following me." Angela and Gary had no objections and followed her.

"_This was the best vacation ever! I got to spend a month at this fancy hotel with a bunch of people and I don't even remember paying for it!" Sally said. "…Wait. I was part of some contest-thing? Why don't I remember it, then? Is it that 'Big Brother' thing I've been hearing about?"_

The next picture was that of a cute, smiling monkey. Gary smiled back. "I remember Anke. She was a nice girl. Too bad that she was cut so soon, though." He lamented.

"She would have been a target anyway, right? She wasn't very strong." Angela noted.

"I still can't get over how close that vote was." Erica sighed. "If I had known Tomato was voting for Samantha, I would have joined her. It would have saved all of us so much trouble…"

"What's done is done and Samantha's gone, now." Gary shrugged. "There isn't anything we can do about what she did."

"I know. It'js just that now I feel bad that the vote could have ended way differently than it did." Erica sighed.

"This is Survivor. You need to learn to expect things like that. I was a victim to moves like that as well, you know." Angela noted.

"Yeah. I guess we all were."

"_I really think I could have gone all the way if I was given half a chance, but in the end it wasn't meant to be." Anke sighed. "I'm thankful for the experience and, on the odd chance that I'd get invited back, I'd totally do it again."_

The next picture was that of a gray mole with a glazed-over eye. Angela suddenly remembered the vote.

"That was Kendall's first blindside." Angela said. "He made a fake idol, gave it to Zeg to play, and then blamed the whole thing on Chloe."

"Seriously?" Erica asked. "Why would they believe him?"

"Because Chloe was at Exile before him." Angela shrugged.

"She has a point." Gary said.

"That being said, Zeg was fairly accident-prone because he had horrible accuracy." Angela added. "I don't really regret voting him out when we did. He didn't really provide anything to the tribe."

"I'm still feeling that arrow that he shot into the host's shoulder." Erica shook her head.

"Yeah. I'll admit that it was funny to watch, but it did him no favours in the long run."

"_I made a few mistakes and I paid for it. I don't really have anyone to blame but myself, but I wasn't counting on Kendall to throw me under the bus like that." Zeg lamented. "Too bad, though. I really enjoyed myself out there, even though I only lasted about a week."_

Erica frowned as she saw the brown-haired girl on the next picture. "I still miss Tomato. The two of us got along well." She said.

"Yeah. Chloe really surprised us there with that idol." Gary nodded.

"I still don't know how she could find an idol on the first trip to Exile." Angela said.

"It must have been pure luck that she stumbled across it." Erica said. "And Tomato ended up paying for it."

"She was a nice girl and good to talk to." Gary agreed. "I think that she could have gone a bit farther than she did."

"I KNOW she could have. She just wasn't given much of a chance." Erica sighed.

"_I don't have any regrets about my performance except that I wish I could have gone further. I think I was taken out before I could start playing the game for real." Tomato said. "I know that there isn't anything I can do about it now, but I still wish things could have ended differently."_

Angela scowled when she saw the yellow robot with red hair on the upcoming picture. "Fran-CINE got what was coming to her. Let's just leave it at that." She explained.

"She was the saboteur, right?" Gary asked Erica.

"Yep. I mean, I didn't see much of it, but from what I did, I was surprised to see that it was her doing it." Erica shrugged. "I mean, she had an attitude, but I didn't think she was capable of the things she did."

"If there's one thing I can thank Kendall for, it's telling me about that traitor. That's the one thing he was being truthful about." Angela said, arms folded.

"Man. With the things you've been saying about her, I'd hate to think of what she'd been putting you through." Gary shook his head.

"I don't like being reminded of it." Angela replied. "I'm just glad that we got rid of her as soon as we could when we found out."

"_Those pathetic fleshbags think that they got the best of me just because they voted me out? Well, that's where they're wrong! I proved that they were all completely inferior!" Fran-CINE insisted. "I would have been even more-successful if those idiots didn't vote me out, though. I really wanted to make them suffer!"_

Robert's picture was next. Erica saw the Woozle's picture and sighed. "I didn't mind Robert, but he was just way too trusting of those he deemed his friends." She admitted.

"Yeah. Samantha completely played him for the fool." Gary admitted. "Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he still thinks that Samantha liked him."

"Was he as stupid as the first boot?" Angela asked.

"No. Robert wasn't stupid. He was just easily-manipulated." Erica replied. "That being said, I'm almost glad he didn't make the merge."

"You have a point. He would probably be unwilling to vote for anyone but Samantha." Gary noted. "And it would have given her too much power."

"I suppose you're right." Angela muttered.

"_I didn't wanna go because I was having so much fun, but I enjoyed myself at the hotel after I was given the boot." Robert explained. "Overall, I had fun and I met some good people, so at least I won't be leaving the game empty-handed."_

Angela saw that Mongo's picture was next and frowned. "I didn't really like Mongo. She had too much backtalk for my liking." She explained.

Erica couldn't help buit chuckle. "The way she got you to waste the idol was pretty funny, though." She explained. "I have to hand it to her for coming up with that."

"Don't remind me. The fact that I was played like that just makes things worse for me." Angela growled.

"She wasn't on my tribe at all so I never really got to know her." Gary noted. "What was she like?"

"She was snarky and seemed to like poking fun at the others while they weren't around." Erica replied. "I'll admit that she had a bit of attitude, but I liked her."

"Hmm…I don't know. I'm still unsure about her." Gary shrugged.

"Don't think too much about it." Angela replied. "Mongo likely would have called you out on it, anyway."

"_Yeah, it sucks that I got cut pre-merge, but hey, I took out an idol at the same time, so at least I can say that I did a big move out here." Mongo shrugged. "Do I have any regrets about my game? Nope. I played pretty much exactly how I wanted to in the end, so the events that happened in-game didn't really affect it."_

Erica saw the picture of a blue robot coming up and lifted an eyebrow. "How exactly did a robot with limited mobility make it that far, anyway?" She asked.

"I blame the fact that he didn't go to a lot of Tribal Councils before he left." Angela said. "But I was indeed planning on voting him out eventually if he remained on my team."

"Kendall seemed quick to backstab him, though." Gary supplied. "Something happen on your tribe?"

"That's what I still don't get. Kendall told me that Kenal was blackmailing Fran-CINE, but after we voted her out, I found out that wasn't the case." Angela said, a little confused. "I still don't get why Kendall would tell me the truth about one thing and a lie about the next."

"He was probably trying to get you to turn on everyone." Erica said.

"Kenal was smart, though. He helped win some challenges for his team, after all." Gary said.

"Yes, but his mobility is what brought him down." Angela said.

"_I played the game well-enough and I was taken out by someone that had every intention to backstab me. There's nothing I can do in that regard." Kenal said. "Hopefully, I showed that it's possible for Daleks to be good, because I lasted a lot longer than I initially thought I would."_

The next picture was that of a smirking panda girl. Gary couldn't help but chuckle again. "Chloe sure was something, wasn't she?" He asked.

"I dunno. She kinda stepped off the dock a bit when Anke got voted out and even more when she used the idol to eliminate Tomato." Erica folded her arms.

"Honestly, I didn't think much of her." Angela said. "The main reason I didn't pick her for my tribe was that she looked like one of the weakest players here."

"I tried to like Chloe, but there was just something about her that put me off." Erica admitted. "To this day, I'm still not sure what it was that did it."

"It's strange, but I think most of us felt the same way." Gary shrugged.

"Yeah. I was sorta indifferent to her going when she did, anyway." Erica noted.

"_It sucks that I got cute before the merge, but then I got to spend the rest of the time with Anke and I had a blast at the hotel." Chloe admitted. "The trip wasn't a total loss, though. I was responsible for some big moves and I'm sure that I struck fear into some people before I left."_

Erica lifted an eyebrow at the picture of the smiling cowgirl next on the path. "Corey talked way too much. There were times I just wished she would stop talking." She said. She received nothing but silence from the other two finalists. "Oh, come on! I can't be the ONLY one that thinks so!"

"No, but I had a higher level of patience for her and I found her stories entertaining." Gary chuckled.

"I have it much worse where I come from, so Corey's endless stories weren't as annoying to me." Angela shrugged. "She was a great ally though. I should thank Brock for bringing her on board my alliance."

"I still say she talked way too much." Erica sighed. "I'm glad I wasn't on her tribe the entire time."

"She was nice and cheerful, though. I didn't mind her." Gary pointed out. "In fact, I liked her."

"I'm not saying that she wasn't nice. I'm just saying that she was annoying."

"_Ah, Ah'm not uset that Ah didn't win. Ah mean, if Ah'd be upset fer every time Ah lost, Ah prob'ly wouldn't have the determination ta keep goin'." Corey said. "Ah had a good time and Ah'm lookin' forward to seein' everyone together at the end, cause after all, one of 'em is gonna be a million bucks richer."_

Angela frowned when she saw that Amy's picture was next. "When Amy left, everything started going downhill for me." She said. "Every council after that, I lost an ally."

"Yeah. That was one heck of a streak when you realize that you were in power the entire pre-merge." Erica smirked.

"I feel that I felt closest to Amy, though." Angela said. "I think she was probably my most-loyal ally and she was definitely a big help for getting my entire alliance to the merge."

"She was nice, although I have to say that her leaving put us in a good spot." Gary shrugged. "For the most part, it gave us an advantage."

"Don't remind me." Angela muttered. "I HATE being at a disadvantage."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"_Yeah, I'm a little let down that I didn't make it as far as I would have liked, but I'm satisfied with how I played the game." Amy admitted. "It didn't get me further than tenth place, but I'm not about to become this super-scheming, over-the-top villain character if it would get me farther. That's not who I am."_

Brock's picture was next. Gary chuckled again. "I was surprised at Brock. I really wasn't expecting him to be as strong as he ended up being." He noted.

"Yeah. He's only a bit taller than me and yet he was as strong as he was." Erica agreed. "I still don't know how that's physically possible."

"He was another key part of my alliance, and paid for it in the long run." Angela said.

"You think he would have done better if he hid his strength?" Erica asked.

"Not likely. I would have ended up targeting him for being weak." Angela shook her head. Erica rolled her eyes.

"Still, I suppose he was a bit of a threat to leave in the game." Gary finished. "There were already a number of physical threats left by the time he went."

"Yeah. That's for sure." Erica agreed.

"_I had several plans fall apart before I could put them into action and I was ousted before I felt I could do any lasting damage to the other side." Brock sighed. "I probably had the worst luck out there since nothing I tried on my own seemed to work for very long. I really wish I had a reset button so I could try it all again."_

Erica frowned again when she saw that Riddle's picture was next. "Riddle's elimination was our first major blow in a long time." She said.

"We recovered from it well enough considering that we're both still here, though." Gary remarked.

"He came off as too cocky for me and too confident in his own intelligence." Angela folded her arms.

"Really? Because he came to me a lot for advice and a second opinion if he ever second-guessed himself, which was more often than you may think." Gary replied.

Angela and Erica blinked in confusion and looked at each other. "First I've heard of it." Erica remarked.

"Still, Riddle came up with the ideas. He was probably one of the smartest people I've seen." Gary said.

"That just made him a threat in the long run." Angela replied.

"_I regret not being able to go all the way, but I am indeed impressed with my abilities to play the game. I know it's possible for me to win, but the biggest question is if I would have needed to change my gameplay or if I would have done better with different people." Riddle said. "Unfortunately, I suppose we shall never know the answer to that."_

Tempo's picture was next. Erica was the first to speak. "Tempo…Well, he was weird." She admitted.

"How so?" Gary asked.

"Well, he was against us pre-swap, then he joined me post-swap." Erica said. "Then, after the merge, we find ourselves against each other again as if we never aligned to begin with." Erica replied. "And then there was his whole stint with Danglars."

"He said that it wasn't personal. I believe him, even though I don't appreciate the fact that he indeed threw another teammate under the bus like that." Angela said.

"Don't act like people don't do that all the time, Angela." Erica said.

"Isn't being treacherous part of the game to begin with?" Gary asked.

"For your information, I value loyalty." Angela explained. "Even though Tempo was loyal, his stint was a huge strike against him for me."

"_To this day, I'm still regretting what I did back there and I know there isn't a way for me to change it. It was like someone was controlling my moves out there." Tempo said. "Maybe if I hadn't done that, I would be seen as more loyal and not as a swing vote. For all I know I could still be in the game if I played a bit differently."_

Gary laughed again when he saw Danglars' picture. "Danglars made me laugh, I'll admit. I almost regret not being on the same team as him for the entire time." He admitted.

"Even though it seemed like the universe had it in for him?" Erica asked with a smirk.

"I guess that's what made him funny." Gary shrugged.

"While I value strength above all else, loyalty is a close second for me. Danglars proved that he was loyal in the end and I believed him when things didn't go his way." Angela said.

"I think it was more because he was scared of you." Erica lifted an eyebrow.

"Call it what you want." Angela dismissed. "He was still one of the most-loyal people and a key member of my alliance when it was all said and done."

"We got lucky with the idol that time." Erica smirked. "If we didn't maybe one of us would have gotten the boot instead."

"_I had fun, all things considered. I did amazing and surpassed all of my own expectations. I came out of it in sixth place, but that's still way better than I thought I would get." Danglars said. "The fact that it took an idol to get rid of me was pretty awesome, though. Something not a lot of people can say, you know."_

"Can we just skip these last two?" Angela asked flatly as the trio came upon Kendall's torch.

"No. We have to do them." Erica sighed. "I really didn't like Kendall when I met him. He just walked around and thought he could get us to do what he want because we needed his vote."

"Didn't he know that Survivor is a social game as well?" Gary asked.

"I have to say that, all things considered, his game was decent." Angela folded her arms. "But he caused so much trouble for me that there would have been no way I would have voted for him in the finals."

"Me neither." Erica shook her head. "He got way too cocky and I'm glad Samantha was okay with us voting him out."

"Only because she didn't know she was next." Angela said with a smirk as she walked past the picture.

"That was pretty crafty, you know." Gary supplied as he followed Angela.

"_I feel cheated beyong belief. If I made the finals, I know I would have won, despite what these idiots are saying." Kendall insisted. "I played the game better than anyone else and, if I could have made them see that, I know they'd be handing me the million. Looking at the final three, it's a complete waste of money."_

Samantha's torch was the last on the path. Erica took the time to kick it.

"Getting that out of your system, Erica?" Gary asked.

"I've been wanting to do that for a month now and it felt amazing to finally give that witch the boot." Erica said with a satisfied smirk.

"She had no one to blame but herself." Angela snorted. "She claimed to be in my alliance and yet she still votes out my entire alliance to make her vote needed."

"She didn't plan on you voting her out in revenge, though." Erica said.

"Betrayal is something I don't take lightly, and I make sure that they pay for it when the day's done." Angela narrowed her eyes. "I had no intention on keeping her around."

"At least that shows that you're better than her." Gary shrugged.

"I always knew that." Angela smirked.

"_I flew through the game with a target on my back, and I fall just short of the finals! I should have gone all the way!" Samantha insisted. "But am I bitter about getting voted off so close to the million dollar prize? Oh, I'm bitter about this, all right! You can bet that the others will receive some harsh jury words the next time I see them!"_

With Samantha's torch being the last on the path, the final three walked forward and walked out of the jungle…

**(Immunity Challenge)**

…And onto another clearing in the jungle. Seeing the tribe mat on the ground, the final three walked over and stepped on.

"Welcome to the final challenge of the season. Here, we will test your endurance for how much you want to make the finals." SSBFreak said. The final three saw three pairs of poles set up behind the host, but wide enough for someone to brace themselves in the gap. "The challenge is simple: Brace yourself in between two poles and stay off the ground for as long as possible. The last person remaining off the ground will win the final Immunity of the season and have a guaranteed spot in the finals."

The final three exchanged glances, clearly anticipating the worst out of this challenge.

"If you'll all get into position, we can begin." The host explained.

**(Later…)**

Angela, Erica and Gary each propped themselves into the gap between two poles, using their hands to brace themselves.

"Okay. The final challenge is underway and the clock is ticking." SSBFreak said. "Each of the final three looks relatively comfortable, but that will obviously change with time."

The final three strained to keep their positions, knowing that if they shifted at all, they would likely lose their grip and fall. Because of this, all three held firm, still looking fresh. The three finalists, because they were so focused on the challenge, didn't bother looking at each other, as that would shift their weight.

"Gary, how do you think your chances are in this challenge?" SSBFreak asked.

"Not bad. I can keep myself in one position for a while." Gary noted. "I just need to hope that I can hold firm over the others."

"Erica, same question." SSBFreak said. "How do you like your chances?"

"It's not impossible. I can stay up here as long as I have to." Erica explained. "I can see myself at an advantage because I'm far-lighter than both of the others."

"Angela, are you and Gary indeed at a disadvantage?"

"Just because someone is smaller and lighter doesn't give them an advantage in something like this." Angela replied. "More muscle means more stamina, and that's something Erica's lacking severely."

"We'll see who's laughing after the challenge, Angela." Erica said.

"Well, it looks like you've all got a good grip and aren't going to be dropping out anytime soon, so I'll leave you to it and get back to you in a bit to check up on you." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

Several moments passed and the three finalists were still holding strong. It didn't look like they were fatigued yet, but it was still early in the competition. None of the three finalists bothered to look at each other, as they knew doing so would throw off their balance.

"It's been twenty minutes and you're all still holding firm. However, since you're all determined, I can tell that this may take a while." SSBFreak said. "Angela, what are you thinking at the moment?"

"About how much I need the win." Angela muttered. "If I lose, there's no way either of the others will vote the other out over me."

"You think you're automatically out if you lose?"

"They've been allies since the start." Angela replied. "Like I said, I don't see them turning on each other unless I force them to."

"Gary, is what Angela saying true?" SSBFreak asked.

"I suppose so. I mean, we've been allies since the beginning. I don't see why we wouldn't go all the way." Gary noted.

"No strategy involved whatsoever?"

"You realize who you're talking to?" Erica asked flatly.

SSBFreak paused, then shrugged. "Erica, how are you holding up?" He asked.

"I'm fine. My light weight is being used to my advantage and I'm ready to keep at this." Erica said with a smirk.

"How long do you think you can stay up there?"

"As long as it takes."

"Good answer." SSBFreak said as he turned to Gary. "Gary, same question. How are you holding up?"

"Not bad. My arms are starting to feel it, but I'm feeling okay overall." Gary noted.

"Okay. I'll leave you guys to it again and check back in with you later. By that point, you should be starting to tire out." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

Several more moments passed and no one had dropped out. All three of the finalists held firm, refusing to be the first to drop. Nevertheless, they were starting to tire out and had the facial expressions to prove it.

"You've all been up there for forty minutes now and no one's dropped, but I can tell by your faces that you're starting to tire out." SSBFreak said. "Gary, how are the arms holding out?"

"Not that good, I'm afraid. I'm not sure if I can keep this up much longer." Gary admitted.

As if to prove his point, Gary's grip slipped and he fell to the ground, signifying that he had dropped out.

"Gary is the first one out! It's down to Angela and Erica!" SSBFreak announced.

"Wow. That took quite a bit out of me." Gary noted as he stood up and walked over to the host.

"Angela, do you think Erica really IS at an advantage now that it's helped her outlast Gary?" SSBFreak asked.

"No. This challenge is about upper-body strength and not the weight of a person." Angela said defiantly. "I can win this and I will."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Erica asked.

"Erica, now that it's just the two of you, how do you think your chances are?" SSBFreak asked.

"Angela's not giving me enough credit. I can stay up here as long as I need to." Erica replied. "I'm not even tired."

"Anything to say to that, Angela?"

"No. I just want to focus on the challenge and be done with it." Angela shook her head. "We'll find out which of us has the better idea of how the challenge works eventually." 

"Very well. I've leave you two to it again and get back to you later. By then, I'm sure you'll both be tired." SSBFreak said.

**(Later…)**

It was apparent that Angela and Erica were starting to tire out, as they appeared to be straining to keep themselves in the air. It was clear that they were both close to dropping at this point, but they were each holding on because they wanted to win.

"It's been an hour now and I can tell that you're both running on nothing but willpower at the moment." SSBFreak said. "I can just tell that, any moment now, one of you is going to drop. Angela, how are you feeling?"

"My arms are starting to hurt, but I'm just pushing myself through it because I know that I'm close." Angela said. "I'm not letting myself lose a challenge this late in the game!"

"Erica, how are you feeling?" SSBFreak asked.

"My arms feel like they're about to give out, but since I'm so close to winning, I'm trying to endure." Erica replied. "It's more hoping that Angela gives out before me at this point."

"What are your chances, would you say?"

"I can't tell because I don't know how tired Angela's getting, but I know it's going to be close." Erica said. "Whover wins this will only win by a margin."

SSBFreak turned to the person beside him. "Gary, now that you're out of the challenge, who do you think has the best chance to win?" He asked.

"It could go either way." Gary shrugged nonchalantly. "I think they both look equally-determined."

The two finalists dared to glance at each other to see how the other was doing, but only just enough that they didn't fall. As soon as they saw each other struggling to remain in the air, they returned to concentrating on the challenege.

However, not long after that, one of the contestants lost their grip and fell to the ground with a loud thud, signaling the end of the challenge.

Erica was on the ground and was looking both tired and frustrated. Angela still remained in the air, braced between the two poles.

"Erica is down! That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Angela wins the final Immunity!"

Hearing that she had won, Angela dropped to the ground and cheered in victory. Gary clapped politely for her while Erica was looking a little mad at herself.

**(Later…)**

"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Angela. In addition that was the final challenge of the season you won." SSBFreak said. "You have a one-in-two chance at winning the game."

"The power is now in my hands." Angela said with a smirk.

SSBFreak turned to Erica and Gary. "Angela is safe tonight, but we need to eliminate one more person to reach the finals. Erica and Gary, one of you will be going home tonight, just missing out on the finals." He said. "I suggest that you start pitching ideas to Angela, because she's going to be the one deciding your fate. You can all head back to camp."

**(Survivor Tribe)**

Angela seemed content for once as she returned to camp. As Erica and Gary were off talking to each other, Angela walked over to a tree and sat down, finally able to relax.

"It's been a long road, but it's done." Angela said, leaning back. "I don't have to worry about challenges and I'm not in danger of getting voted out."

"_My perseverance finally paid off. I was taking a risk going into the final three with no added votes, but I managed to win the final Immunity and now I have a guaranteed spot in the finals." Angela said with a smirk. "Now I need to decide which of the other two I should take to the end with me, although I'm not sure if it makes a difference. I'm confident with my chances either way."_

"But which one should I take to the end?" Angela mused to herself. "Hmm…I don't know if there's a way I can go wrong. Either way, I think I've got a good shot at winning."

Meanwhile, rica and Gary were near the shelter, the former looking a little nervous. "This isn't good. Angela's got Immunity and now one of us is going to go." She said.

"It had to happen eventually, I guess." Gary shrugged.

"Gary, you don't understand!" Erica said. "Angela's got a LOT of allies on the jury!"

"_Angela won Immunity, and that means that she's likely got some votes already locked in for tomorrow." Erica folded her arms. "Now she needs to choose between Gary and I and decide which of us to kick out of the game. Winning this thing just got harder for whoever survives this vote."_

"Okay…How about this?" Gary asked. "Whoever gets eliminated tries to sway jury votes with the others before tomorrow's council?"

Erica gave a sigh. "That may be the best chance we have." She admitted. "Man. I can't believe we never considered Angela a jury threat until now…"

"I guess you need to expect the unexpected in Survivor." Gary shrugged.

"_I say that Angela was able to fly under the radar so well because Kendall and Samantha were causing so much drama." Gary pointed out. "After all, we didn't really notice how big of a threat she was until we eliminated both of the troublemakers. I have to say that this coming council is going to be interesting…"_

Angela took the time to look around and noticed that Erica and Gary weren't approaching her like she originally thought. "Looks like they'll be pitching their reasons to me at Tribal Council." She noted before laying back again. "No matter. I think I've already made my choice."

**(Tribal Council)**

The final three walked into council, carrying their torches. Seeing that there was only three spots left, the trio sat down, Angela in the middle.

"Before we begin, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak said. "Corey, Amy, Brock, Riddle, Tempo, Danglars, Kendall and Samantha, both of whom were voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Kendall and Samantha followed the jury into the hut, still looking a little mad. Kendall was wearing a what looked like a tribal hat made of leaves, but nothing else otherwise. Samantha, on the other hand, was wearing a white sweater, dark pants and sneakers. Her hair had been brushed in a different style, fully-revealing both of her button eyes. The near-complete jury sat down on the bench.

"The jury is only here to witness the outcome of the council. You are not to address them and they won't address you." SSBFreak said before turning to the finalists again. "Angela, you betrayed Samantha at the last council. Care to give your reasons?"

"Samantha was every bit as responsible for eliminating my allies as Kendall was." Angela folded her arms. "I wanted her to pay for it as much as him in that sense."

"Even though she was your only real ally left?"

"Samantha was never my ally. She tried to worm her way in with me after voting out my allies, and I don't take kindly to people stabbing me in the back." Angela said.

"Talk about ungrateful." Samantha muttered.

"Shut up." Amy replied.

"Erica, how does the outcome of this council look?" SSBFreak asked.

"Not good. After eliminating Samantha, I realized that Angela may be a bigger threat than we thought." Erica replied. "Of course, that meant that we needed to keep her from winning, although that's obviously not what happened."

"Are you in danger, then?"

"Gary and I are both in danger, and that's something we can't deny." Erica replied. "In the end, Angela's the one who will choose."

"Gary, are you feeling nervous tonight?" SSBFreak asked.

Gary gave another shrug. "Ever since the merge hit, I've accepted the fact that I could go at any time. It's great that I've managed to last this far, though." He replied. "If I can make it this far, I'd certainly like to go all the way."

"That's the most determination I've ever seen from him." Riddle pointed out.

"Okay. Normally, I would tell you to vote, but since it's the final three, we're doing things a little differently. Since Angela has immunity, Erica and Gary automatically vote for each other, cancelling the votes. This means that Angela will be the only one voting tonight." SSBFreak explained. "As such, I will ask Erica and Gary to state their piece to Angela as to why she should keep them and Angela will then make her decision. Erica, would you start?"

Erica looked at Angela. "Angela, there's no question that I've played the game more than Gary, because he's just been going through the game at a laid-back pace and is easily-accepting of everything that comes at him. You may think of him as a goat because of this, but I think that makes him a jury threat." She explained. "Gary is an overall-nice guy, and that is sure to win over some jury votes that haven't decided yet. If you take him to the end, then there's no way to sway the votes that will go to him. I personally think he could beat you in the end if you took him, so that's why I think you should take me."

"Gary, your turn."

Gary nodded and looked at Angela. "I'll admit that I've been playing a laid-back game, but you have to admit that I haven't really been playing a strategic game. After all, it's not really in my nature to worry and think about things. Erica HAS been playing the game smart, which I think could make her a sure-bet with some undecided voters." He explained. "I'm not saying that you'll automatically win depending on who you take, but you'd probably have a better chance to win against me. That being said, I'll respect your decision no matter which it is because it's not my nature to hold a grudge."

"Angela, does this pursuede you to vote for someone?" SSBFreak asked.

"No. My mind was made up at camp and the pitches didn't do anything to change it." Angela shook her head. "I'm ready."

"Okay. With that, it's time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Angela, if you would?"

Angela got up and left to hut to go vote. She approached the table and quickly wrote a name down. "This is an easy choice." She said as she voted and returned to the hut.

SSBFreak left to fetch the urn after Angela voted and quickly returned with it. "Obviously, whoever's name is on this lone ballot will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained as he fished the ballot from the urn.

Erica and Gary sat in anticipation.

"The first and last vote…"

The jury appeared to be on the edge of their seats, wondering how the vote had gone.

"…Ninth and final member of the jury…"

Angela sat back and folded her arms with a smirk.

"…And eighteenth person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"

The host opened up the ballot and looked at it.

The council was deathly silent, no one daring to breath.

Angela's smirk remained.

SSBFreak turned the ballot around.

"…Erica. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.

Erica paused, then sighed in disappointment. "I was so close to the end, too." She lamented as she got up, grabbed her torch and brought it to the host.

"Erica, Angela has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Erica's torch. "It's time for you to go."

"Time to work on some questions." Erica said as she walked out of council and vanished.

Once Erica was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "And then there were two. Angela and Gary, you've managed to outlast eighteen other players and be the last two standing in this game of Survivor. You've come a long way and battled it out, but you're not done yet." He explained. "Your fate is now in the hands of the nine members of the jury, who tomorrow will be voting for one of you to walk away a million dollars richer. I'll see you both tomorrow at this location for one more Tribal Council, but for the last time, you can both head back to camp."

Angela and Gary stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council. As they were walking, the same thing went through both of their minds: They had outlasted all others in their alliances and would now be facing off against each other. One of them would indeed be a million dollars richer tomorrow, and right now, all the two finalists wanted to do was simply finish it.

"_Man! I was SO close to the end! If Angela took me, I'm confident that I could have swayed some votes to my side!" Erica lamented. "Still, I'm glad I made it almost all the way, even though I didn't win in the end. I had a great time and I would do it again if I could, if only to challenge myself to actually make it to the end."_

**Voting History:**

**Erica – Angela**

**Author's Notes: Erica was a key player in the game and I had a good time writing for her, especially when I contrasted her with Gary's never-ending positivity. However, going into this, I knew almost from the start that Erica would be the final jury member, so while she may have looked like she was winning, in the end it was Angela's desire to bring the strong to the end that got Erica cut.**

**The final part will be uploaded next Tuesday. It's a battle of muscle: Negative vs. Positive! Ruthlessness vs. Friendliness! Yin vs. Yang!**

**...Angela vs. Gary.**

**(Ponderosa)**

The limo drove up to the front doors of the mansion one last time. As Erica got out of the back of the limo, it was still night out. The goth looked up at the huge mansion and couldn't help but smile.

"This is going to be a great place to relax, but it's too bad I'm only here for a couple of days." Erica sighed as she walked up to the doors and went inside.

"_Once the bitterness of leaving the show went away, I was looking forward to Ponderosa. It'll be good to have a nice relaxation away from the game for a bit and it'll give me a chance to unwind from everything that's been happening." Erica said. "Now I'm going into a full jury house and maybe I can sway some potential votes for Gary."_

"Anyone still up?" Erica asked as she walked inside the foyer.

"We're indeed still up. We were waiting for you to arrive before we turned in." Riddle said as he wandered over. "Hello, Erica. It's good to see a familiar face at long last."

Erica gave a smirk. "So you were WANTING me to get eliminated?" She asked.

"You know what I meant, Erica."

"So where's the grub? I'm starving."

"Over here. Everyone's waiting."

"_I was actually quite surprised that both Erica and Gary were able to last so long after I left. But we remained in power long enough for the two of them to make up two-thirds of the final three." Riddle said. "It's good to have one of our own in the finals, so it'll be no question on who to vote for for me, but the others are the obvious question marks."_

Erica sat on the couch, eating a plate of food from the buffet. The others were gathered around, waiting for her to tell them what they wanted to know.

"You've been around the two of them the longest. Why don't you say what you think about the gameplay that the others have been having?" Danglars asked.

Erica gave a shrug. "Sure. Angela's been playing fiercely, but she isn't very social. She doesn't seem to realize that the game is not only about surviving, but being social as well." She said.

"You're a fine one to talk about being social." Samantha folded her arms.

"Shut up, you. Anyway, even though Gary's never really been much of a player, you can't doubt that he's been by-far the better social player." Erica said. "He's a much-nicer person than Angela is, anyway."

"Why do I have a feeling you're trying to sway our votes?" Amy lifted an eyebrow.

"_It was clear that Erica was trying to get some of us to vote for Gary instead of Angela. Well, I don't know if she managed to get through to anyone else, but I know who's getting MY vote." Amy pointed out. "Angela managed to overcome being left alone against everyone else and she's STILL there. If that doesn't deserve a vote, nothing will."_

Erica finished eating and looked around. "So…Where am I going to sleep?" She asked.

"You can bunk with me if you want." Amy said. "There's an extra bed in my room."

Kendall and Samantha's eyes widened. "Wait! You said that the only room that wasn't spoken for was the one that you forced us into!" Kendall said.

"That's right. We all spoke for the rest of the rooms, but some of them had spare beds." Brock said with a smirk. "Frankly, none of us wanted to bunk with either of you."

"Ugh! You…You people are pathetic!" Samantha shouted.

"Right back at ya, pardner." Corey said with a smirk.

"_Yeah. Bunking with either of those two wasn't really an option for any of us. I may have ended up bunking with Corey, but I'll take her over Kendall and Samantha any day." Tempo shrugged._

"_I hate them all." Samantha said flatly._


	17. Day 39

**(Survivor Tribe)**

"I have to say that that was quite harrowing for me." Gary said, laughing a bit. "I don't think there was ever a time I was so close to going."

"The final vote-off will do that, I suppose." Angela said with a shrug.

"_Angela decided to keep me, which is good because that means I'll be going into the final Tribal Council and answer some questions." Gary pointed out. "This is actually pretty exciting since I never would have thought that I could have made it this far. Just goes to show how far going through the game and taking everything in stride will get you."_

"Why'd you decide to keep me, though?" Gary asked. "I'm just curious."

Angela paused. "Well, to be honest, it had nothing to do with what you and Erica told me." She said. "I was purely an old goal that I gave to myself at the start."

"Oh. Well, it's good that you were able to accomplish it, then."

"_When we started, I told myself to take the strongest to the end, and now here I am, going to the finals with Gary, who is obviously my biggest competition in the strength department." Angela said. "I figured that I had a good chance against either him or Erica, so I decided to just bring Gary to the end to make another accomplishment."_

Gary was silent for a bit. "Well, this is it. We're the last two remaining." He said.

"Yep. I guess we are." Angela nodded. "Tomorrow will be the last day."

"It's been a long time coming, but we've made it this far." Gary nodded.

"_I may be able to get a decent shot at winning this if the jury plays against Angela's lack of social abilities. Who knows? Maybe I can use that to my advantage." Gary shrugged. "Still, I don't really want to think about it now. I just want to get to sleep and then we can worry about the council tomorrow."_

"_Gary's a nice person and, while that may not get him far on the battlefield, people may see him as a nicer player." Angela folded her arms. "I may lose some undecided votes, but I've got allies on the jury. I just hope that I have their votes locked, because if I don't, I could be in trouble for losing."_

"Hey, it's getting late. Let's get to bed and prepare fot tomorrow." Gary suggested.

"I suppose you're right. One more night out here and then it'll be all over." Angela nodded.

Angela and Gary went to bed. They knew that they had a vital day the following day, so they needed to be ready for it.

**(Survivor Tribe; Day 39)**

Gary whistled a tune as he poked at the fire pit with a stick, effectively putting out the remenants of the fire from last night. Considering that they didn't need it again, Gary saw no harm it dispersing the fire for good.

"It's nice and quiet around here." Gary said as he looked around. "This is probably the best time for me to kick back and relax. It's not like there's going to be a challenge coming up."

With that, Gary put down the stick and walked over to a tree with a lot of shade. The balding man sat down, leaned back and dozed off quickly.

"_Spending a month with a bunch of people that did nothing but talk about strategy meant that I didn't get a lot of time to relax and take things easy." Gary noted. "I know it's only for one day, but I'll enjoy whatever moment of silence I can get to get some good rest. I don't think I've really managed to get a good sleep since we started, after all."_

Angela, holding a letter, walked around the camp. "Gary? Gary, are you around?" She asked. "Treemail came!"

The dark-skinned woman looked around, scratching her head. "Where'd he get off to?" She asked herself. "He KNOWS we have somewhere to be."

Suddenly hearing a light snoring, Angela searched around further and found Gary sleeping under a tree. Staring flatly, Angela picked up a rock, held it over Gary's balding head and let go of it. The rock struck Gary in the forehead and bounced off, instantly waking the middle-aged man up.

"Oh. Hello, Angela." Gary said. "We get treemail already? 

"Yes. We need to go to the final Tribal Council now." Angela said.

"_I'm still amazed that someone like Gary managed to make it to the end. He's had no strategy and has solely gotten through the game by being a challenge threat and easily making friends." Angela folded her arms. "And then, on the last day of the competition, I find him asleep! I'm still trying to grasp the concept of such a strong man being so laid-back about life…"_

"So, it's time to head out and finish this." Gary said as he got up and dusted himself off.

"I suppose it is. This is the last time we'll see this camp." Angela nodded.

"Well, good luck. It's been fun playing against you and I'm glad you were able to last this long." Gary said, holding out his hand for Angela to shake.

Angela looked at Gary's hand for a few moments before slowly shaking it. "…You too." She admitted.

Gary smiled. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He asked.

"I'll make you eat your tongue if you make me do that again." Angela said as she pulled her hand back.

Gary shrugged. "Fair enough."

"_I know I can win this. Unlike Gary, I've actually HAD a gameplan. That being said, people may vote against me for the sole reason of Gary not doing anything to make them mad." Angela said. "I need to state my case and show the jury why I deserve to win, but I can't outright attack Gary's lack of gameplay. That may cost me some more votes in the end…"_

"_I think I've got a good chance. I've been playing a nice game and I'm friends with a lot of people on the jury." Gary admitted. "If you had said to me at the start that I would make it to the end, I'd probably just laugh it off, but here I am. If I can play my strengths to my advantage, I think I can beat out Angela."_

**(Final Tribal Council)**

Angela and Gary walked into Tribal Council and saw that there were only two seats available. The two walked over and sat down, waiting for the final council to commence.

"You two have outlasted eighteen others and are the only ones this season to last the entire 39 days. Congratulations on making it this far, but we still have one more crucial vote left to do. In a moment, a vote will be cast to decide which of you is more-worthy of the million dollar prize and the title of sole survivor." SSBFreak explained. "The people in charge of this vote: The nine people that you have voted out since we merged and our jury; Corey, Amy, Brock, Riddle, Tempo, Danglars, Kendall, Samantha and Erica, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Erica followed the rest of the jury into council. The finalists saw that she was wearing darker clothing, which made her look more like the goth she claimed that she was. That being said, her unusual green hair still remained untouched. The jury sat down on a nearby bench.

"In a moment, these nine people will take turns asking you questions to see if you can get them to vote for you, but before we get to that, I'd like you both to plead your case, telling them as a group why you deserve to win and what your strategies were." SSBFreak said. "We'll go alphabetically, so Angela will start."

The dark-skinned woman nodded and gave her piece. "When we started, my main goal was to bring all of the strong people to the end, or at least as many as I could. I started an alliance with the strongest people on my team and we practically dominated the pre-merge vote. However, my eyes started opening when we made the merge and my allies started getting eliminated." Angela admitted. "I saw that strong people are seen as threats and anyone who's not on a side will assuredly go after them. However, when the dust settled, I was the last remaining member of my alliance, and after losing an ally in every visit to council until that point and still surviving to be here, I think I deserve the win. I don't have any regrets of how I played my game, and in the end I still ended up taking a strong player to the end with me."

"Gary, would you continue?"

The balding man nodded. "I'll admit that I didn't have much of a strategy coming into this. I told myself to take whatever the game threw at me and take it in stride, and I ended up going through the entire game that way. I know some may think that I lacked strategy, but that's not who I am. I'm always laid-back and accepting of whatever happens. If I was voted out first, I would have accepted it and left with my head held high, but I ended up lasting the entire way and surviving everyone in my alliance." Gary said. "I'm not going to deny that Angela played a better strategic game, but Survivor about being social as well, and I know I have Angela beat in the social aspect of the game. I think that I deserve to win because I managed to make it to the end by just being myself and not putting on a façade of being a strategizer."

"Points well made, and with that, your fate is now out of your hands. The rest of the work will be done by the jurors, who will now ask the two of you questions." SSBFreak said. "These should hopefully cement votes and make up undecided people. Amy, will you start?"

Amy stood up and walked over to the finalists. "Well, it sure has been quite a run." She admitted. "Seeing the two of you sitting here is probably something not many people would have thought possible because you're both physical threats. I have to say that I'm surprised."

"Surprised at what?" Angela asked suspiciously.

"Physical threats are usually taken out as soon as the merge hits. You saw how Corey, Brock and I went back-to-back." Amy said. "Anyway, my question is if there was anyone that was voted out pre-merge that you wish could have made the merge."

"Not really. I meant to vote out everyone that I did and I wasn't blindsided until the merge hit anyway." Angela said. "Honestly, if you have a reason to be voted out early, then you really don't have anyone to blame but yourself."

"So no one?"

"No."

"Okay…Gary?

"I liked Tomato. She was a nice girl that I think was voted out far-too early." Gary supplied. "You can never really know when and where people will go, but I think it's obvious that anyone can go at anytime, as we learned at many points during the season."

"Yeah. You have a point." Amy shrugged as she turned and walked back. "I'm done."

"Tempo, you're up."

Tempo got up and approached the final two. "Well, it's hard to believe that it's come to this. It's been a whirlwind of events and activities that led to this point, and it's almost over. From what I can tell, the vote may end up being close." He explained. "Okay. Gary, what would you say was the highlight of the game for you?"

Gary appreared to be in thought for a moment. "I guess…I guess the entire game was a highlight. I mean, the experience of Survivor is something only a select few people are allowed to have, and I not only managed to make it onto the show, but last the entire way and have the full Survivor experience." He replied.

"So…The whole game was the best part?" Tempo asked.

"I'd say so. I had a great time." Gary nodded with a smile.

"Okay. Angela, same question."

Angela gave a smirk. "Oh, there were so many things that were highlights for me. Like voting out Fran-CINE and eliminating the traitor among us, or eliminating Mongo even though she tricked me into using an idol." She said. "But…No, the best part of the game for me was eliminating Samantha."

"Any particular reason?"

"She was just as guilty for eliminating my alliance as Kendall. I wanted her to pay for it and she did."

"I think I got what I needed." Tempo shrugged as he walked back to the bench.

"Okay, Samantha. You're up." 

Samantha got up and stalked over to the finalists. "Gary, I don't have anything for you. This is strictly between Angela and I." She said.

Gary shrugged and sat back. "Whatever you want." He said.

"Angela, I have a bone to pick with you. You voted me out." Samantha said. "After everything I did, you repay me by voting me out?"

"After everything you did? What you did was eliminate all of my allies until I was the only one left." Angela folded her arms. "I don't react very well to traitors, so you should be thankful that all I DID was blindside you."

"It's called playing the game. There's no way you would have taken me to the end over anyone in your alliance! I did what anyone else would have done in my shoes!" Samantha insisted. "Does that make me a bad person?"

"It does when you're naturally a bad person to begin with." Gary supplied.

"Stop talking! I said I didn't have anything for you!" Samantha snapped before turning back to Angela. "Okay, fine. Tell me why I should vote for you after eliminating me like that?"

"Because I had better gameplay and, quite frankly, I don't see you easily giving your vote to Gary when his alliance was the one causing you problems since the start." Angela smirked.

"But Gary's innocent of doing me any harm. We'll see if it hurts you." Samantha said darkly as she turned and walked back.

"Riddle, would you go next?"

Riddle got up and walked over, passing Samantha on the way over. "The end is near and, in a moment, one of you will be very rich. We need to solve the problem of which person to give it to, so I'd like to ask you both the same question to help things." He said, arms behind his back.

"What's that?" Gary asked.

"What would you do with the money?" Riddle asked. "I believe that a question like that is crucial for deciding the winner."

Gary shrugged. "I'd probably put some away in a safety deposit so that I'll have something to fall back on when I retire." Gary said. "My house could use a little refurbishment and some new furniture at the same time, so I'd probably invest in that as well."

"Anything else?"

"Probably a nice vacation. It's been a while since I've been on one." Gary said in thought.

"What about you, Angela?" Riddle asked. "What would you spend the money on?"

Angela smirked again. "Three things: Weapons, vehicles and armour." She replied, counting off her fingers.

"Really? Why?"

"For added protection back home. I'm a wastelander, and you need whatever you can get to survive." Angela replied. "A million dollars worth of supplies will be sure to help us for a long time."

"Hmm…Very well. I'm done." Riddle said as he returned to his seat.

"Brock, you're next."

Brock stood up and walked over to the two finalists. "Hey, guys. It's been a long time coming, but here we are. I think I know what to say as well." He said. "Angela, I knew you more and thus feel that I know enough about you to not have to ask you anything. As such, I'm only going to be asking Gary a question."

Angela gave a nod and silently sat back.

"Gary, you say you made it to the end by being yourself, but when you look back, you didn't really do anything throughout the game. Heck, you replied on the others in your alliance to make all the moves while you just coasted through and won challenges." Brock explained. "So, then, why should we vote for you when you didn't really have a gameplay to begin with?"

"I think I gave my reasons when I pleaded my case. If I started strategizing, it would take away from what I am. That's not something I want." Gary said. "And besides, it's not like I didn't do ANYTHING. Every time Riddle was unsure about an upcoming idea, he always came to me for a second opinion and reassurance."

This seemed to catch the majority of the jury off-guard, wondering if he was telling the truth.

"I can vouch for that. I went to him for help numerous times." Riddle said.

"So there you have it. You can't say that I haven't been doing anything." Gary noted. "It's just that what I did ended up helping others in the long run and no one took any notice to them."

"I…I see. Well, that's not the answer I was expecting." Brock shrugged before turning. "I'm done here."

"Corey, you're next, but try to keep it short, okay?"

"Ya got it!" Corey nodded as she stepped forward and approached the finalists. "Hoo-wee! This sure has been a dramatic time with loads of stuff happenin' at every turn, ain't it? Ah haven't seen this many backstabbin's and betrayals since the time mah family went to that national tiddlywinks competition!" She explained. "Boy, that were somethin'! The hostpital was all full that week, so we had ta take care of our own injuries we sustained during that! Man, mah uncle Leeroy's arm was broken in, like, five different places and he were STILL able ta stay fightin'! He made this big guy from another team cry fer his mommy while his broken arm dangled to one side! He looked like one-a them ragdoll-thingies!"

The finalists sat in silence, wondering when Corey was going to get to asking them questions.

"That weren't the only time he looked like that, though! One summer, he tried ta water-ski, but since we didn't have any skis at the time, he strapped a couple-a beavers to his feet and tried skiin' that way! It worked fer a while before he tried goin' off that jump. Ah dun think the beavers liked that too much, but since it were a wooden ramp, they just ate their way up it and collapsed the ramp on Uncle Leeroy as he was goin' up it." Corey scratched her head. "He flew through the air and flailed about fer, like, six seconds before hitting the water, at which point the beavers decided ta turn on him and chew off his eyebrows."

"Corey…" SSBFreak said. Corey didn't hear him.

"Y'all know what it feels like ta have your eyebrows eaten? It hurts, and don't ask me how Ah know that, either. Let me just say that it involves an electric fence, a rabid muskrat and a spool of mint-flavoured dental floss. Ah dun like ta go into detail about that." Corey rambled. "Mah brother likes ta remind me about it all the time, though. He even got a stupid nickname fer me after that, which he likes ta call me whenever he gets the chance. Then Ah just call him remind him of his missing kneecap and he quiets down pretty quick. But enough about that fer now. After all, Ah dun like ta ramble because Ah know that when Ah git going, it's mighty hard fer me ta stop. Now fer my questions…"

"Sorry, Corey. You're now out of time." SSBFreak sighed.

"Oh. Sorry, y'all!" Corey said as she returned to her seat. Angela sighed as Gary scratched his head.

"Erica, you're up."

Erica got up and walked over. "I don't really have any questions since I didn't have a lot of time to prepare them. So, instead, I'm going to just say a few things and use my time that way." She explained. "Coming into this, my goal was to try and use my intelligence to get through the game since I didn't have much in the strength department, but before too long I ended up befriending some peole in a place where I normally would be anti-social. One of those people is still in the contest and I know for a fact that he has my vote."

Erica looked at Gary. "Gary, you are without a doubt the nicest and most-understanding person this season. Everything that was thrown at you, you took it all in stride. I'll admit that your attitude frustrated me several times, but I can't deny that you were a people person that simply made his way through the game by being what he was." She pointed out. "Seeing as how you made it here, you can rest assured that you have me vote. I will just only hope that you can get enough more to win."

Her job done, Erica turned to Angela. "Angela, you may say that you played the better game, but did you really? I mean, you ended up getting hit with several blindsides after the merge and you certainly didn't control the vote as often as you might say you did." She reminded. "In addition, this game is a social game, which I'll admit I'm guilty of not playing at times, but you were far worse. Your sour attitude left me wondering if any of your alliance members joined you out of fear rather than respect. In short, I urge the jury to vote for Gary, since he's the one that played the far-better social game, which could in turn be the bigger part of the experience."

With that, Erica returned to her seat. Angela remained silent at the criticism, but shrugged it off.

"Danglars, you're up."

Danglars got up and approached the two finalists. "Tempo asked you what the best part of the experience was, and I'm going to build on that and go in the other direction." He explained. "Survivor is obviously filled with regrets, and mine are that I spent so much time hiding from Angela at points when I could have easily simply gone up to her and told her that I hadn't voted against her. Mind you, I'd probably still hide regardless." He explained. "So, for my question, I was wondering if there was anything that either of you wish you could do over now that everything's been said and done? Angela, you go first."

"Truthfully, I wish I had better control over things in the early merge portion of the game." Angela shrugged. "If I were to obtain that kind of control, I assure you that our alliance would have made it to the end as a whole."

"But it's a final two."

Angela shrugged. "I was anticipating a final three, and I would have taken Brock and Amy to the end with me because they were my earliest allies." She replied.

Danglars shrugged back. "Okay. That makes sense." He admitted. "Gary?"

"I really don't have many regrets because I was able to make it to the end just for being who I am. However, I'll admit that the first couple of Tribal Councils the Ferren Tribe went to could have been handled better." Gary replied. "Some good girls ended up getting voted out too early when we could have simply voted out Samantha and be done with it."

"Okay. I think that does it for me." Danglars said as he walked back.

"Kendall, you're the last to go."

Kendall got up and approached the final two, not looking pleased. "Personally, I can think of a less-deserving final two." He said. "I'm stuck between giving my vote to someone I hate and someone that had no gameplay to speak of. I would rather just walk away now and not even bother voting."

Angela rolled her eyes. "There's always SOMEONE bitter about things. It may as well be you." She said.

"I played the best game here. My plan was to outlast everyone on Ventala and make it to the finals, surely getting votes from people simply because I outlasted them despite being an early target." Kendall said. "Everyone's insisting that I wouldn't have gotten any votes, but I know that my gameplay would have garnered me enough to win."

"Not me." Gary held up his hand. "Even I have to admit that that plan was terrible."

"At least I HAD a plan. You just coasted through the game and did absolutely nothing while everyone else did all the work." Kendall snapped.

"Uh…I DID say that Riddle came to me constantly for second opinions, didn't I?" Gary asked Angela, receiving a nod. "I thought so."

"Try and deny it as much as you like. No one will remember that gameplay and it's still not something people would vote for you for." Kendall said before turning to Angela. "But still, Angela deserves to be here far less. I targeted her long ago, and none of the others wanted to get rid of her by not seeing her as a threat. Angela is a ruthless, despicable human being that in reality probably doesn't even care for any of you. She admitted herself that she's a wastelander, and that in itself probably means she's a barbarian with little moral code! Tell me, Angela! I dare you to tell me I'm wrong!"

Angela stared at Kendall boredly for a few seconds. "Sorry, did you say something?" She asked. "I kind of tuned you out as soon as you started talking."

Kendall's eye twitched before turning around. "Fine. I'm finished." He said as he returned to his seat.

Once Kendall sat back down again, SSBFreak spoke up. "These nine members of the jury will soon be voting for the person they deem the most-worthy of winning the million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor." He explained. "Angela and Gary, I should hope that you managed to plead your cases well and answer the questions correctly, because there's no turning back now. Corey, you're up."

Corey got up and walked out of the hut to go vote. "It sure ain't a hard choice." She winked as she wrote a name down and voted.

Amy wrote a name down and showed it to the camera, revealing Angela's name. "I really hope you get enough votes." She said.

Brock approached the table and wrote a name down. "I'm glad that the choice isn't a hard one to make." He said as he voted and walked away.

Riddle scribbled a name and showed it to the camera. "You did well tonight. I hope that you get more votes." He said, having voted for Gary.

Tempo paused in thought as he made it to the table before shaking his head and writing. "I said I wouldn't second-guess myself." He mused.

Danglars wasted no time in writing a name down. "After everything I went through? I'm not voting for anyone else." He said, revealing Angela's name.

Kendall seemed mad as he approached the table. He sighed and wrote a name down. "I don't want to vote for either of them." He reminded.

Samantha didn't look as mad as Kendall, but still looked mad as she wrote a name down. "I'll admit that the choice is easier than I thought." She said.

Erica wrote a name down and turned it, revealing Gary's name. "Like I would vote for anyone but you." She said as she voted and walked away.

After all nine members of the jury had voted, SSBFreak left to get the urn and returned with it after a few moments. "The jury has voted and I can say that one of you is indeed going to be a million dollars richer after the names are read." He explained. "As always, we must wait for four months to reveal the votes and winner when we get back to civilization."

"Of course." Gary nodded.

Suddenly hearing an engire roaring, everyone turned and saw a motorcycle (with sidecar) driving onto the scene with a kooky-looking character at the helm. The motorcycle screeched to a halt near the host.

"So, to our finalists Angela and Gary, and our jury, I thank you for giving us another great season of Survivor." SSBFreak said as he climbed into the sidecar. "I'll see you all in four months at the reunion, where I will reveal the winner. Until then, farewell!"

The driver of the motorcycle drove off, but the motorcycle ended up getting detached from the sidecar. The motorcycle continued driving off into the distance as SSBFreak sat in the sidecar, still in Tribal Council. Everyone was silent for several seconds.

"…Um…" SSBFreak said before jumping out of the sidecar and pushing it out of Tribal Council himself.

"I think that backfired on him." Gary noted.

"I'm sensing a pattern." Angela said flatly.

**(Reunion)**

The Final Tribal Council had just finished getting played on a television screen, again set on stage in front of a large, cheering audience. The host, jury and two finalists were on the stage and had just finished watching the final council. The finalists sat together while the nine jury members were sitting aside on a different set of seats.

Angela was wearing what looked like a dark leather version of her armour that covered more of her body. The armour consisted of a dark shirt, dark pants, spiked boots, shoulder and knee platings and a leather breastplate. Angela's hair remained untouched and she still wore her glasses.

Gary was wearing a hat to cover his balding head, a darker blue shirt and a dark vest. He wore a nice pair of dress pants and his shoes looked neatly polished. It looked like Gary had trimmed his beard, but not gotten rid of it completely. It looked like he had dressed up specifically for this event, which probably wasn't very far from the truth.

"Welcome, one and all, to the reunion and finale of Survivor: Central Hub. With me are the finalists, Angela and Gary, and the jury of nine, all waiting for me to reveal the name of the person who has won the million dollar prize, which I will reveal shortly." SSBFreak said as he turned to the finalists. "Angela, how did people react when they saw they you had made the finals?" He asked.

"None of my men were surprised. They have a lot of faith in me and were happy that I made it to the end." Angela replied. "They knew I had what it takes to make it to the finals, but everything obviously came down to me to live up to that."

"Gary, how's life been?"

"Fine, thanks." Gary nodded.

"Uh…I meant now that the show's done."

"Oh. Well, life's been returning to normal for me, or at least as normal as it can be considering I live near Wallace & Gromit." Gary shrugged. "People are proud of me for making it this far and they'll be happy no matter how I do. That much I know. Now that I've got a chance to win, I think they're more excited than I am about this."

"Angela, how would you say that you surprised people here?" SSBFreak asked.

"Hmm…I think the most surprise came from how well I managed to work with some of the people. You see, I'm used to doing things my own way, but I knew I had to adapt for this show." Angela explained.

"Gary, what about you? Was anyone surprised by your gameplan?" SSBFreak asked.

"What gameplan? I just took whatever was thrown at me." Gary shrugged. "By the way, no one was really surprised at how I played. They know me very well, after all."

"Okay. One more question for both of you before we continue." SSBFreak said. "How do you think your chances are to win?"

"I think I've got a good chance." Angela smirked.

"Me as well. I can see either of us winning." Gary nodded.

"Okay. It's high time we got to the moment we've all been waiting for. It's time for me to read the jury's votes." SSBFreak said as he pulled out the urn. "Remember. As usual for the finale, you actually WANT to see your name here. The person with the most votes out of nine will win and be declared Sole Survivor. For the last time this season, it's time to read the votes…"

"Hey, Angela? Good luck." Gary said.

Angela paused, then nodded. "…Yes. You too." She said.

"…First vote; Gary." "That was probably Erica."

"Angela. We're tied at one." Angela formed a smirk.

"Angela. She leads." Angela started taking deep breaths.

"Gary. We're tied at two." The two finalists exchanged glances.

"…Gary. He now leads." "That's a surprise. I wonder who that was…"

"…Angela. Again, we're tied." The jury waited in anticipation.

"…Angela." The host said.

The finalists were silent.

The jury waited impatiently.

"Next vote…"

The audience was just as quiet as everyone, waiting for things to end.

Angela and Gary exchanged glances, wondering how the vote had gone…

Everyone held their breath, it seemed…

"…Sole Survivor and winner of Survivor: Central Hub 4…"

Angela's eyes widened in realization.

"…ANGELA!" SSBFreak announced.

Her eyes lighting up in excitement, Angela stood up and pumped her fists into the air. "I did it! I DID IT!" She roared to the sky. "VICTORY!"

Gary laughed and slapped Angela on the back. "Congratulations, Angela! You played a great game!" He said.

Once Angela's name had been read, the audience erupted with cheers. In the front row were several members of Angela's crew, all dressed in similar-styled armour, on their feet and cheering loudly for their leader. Angela remained on stage, celebrating her victory and continuing to shout to the sky.

"Alright! She pulled it off!" Amy cheered.

Corey clapped loudly and cheered. "Alright! Way ta go, Angela!" She said.

"She deserves it, I feel." Tempo shrugged.

"Totally. She had my vote going into it." Danglars nodded.

Kendall folded his arms and looked away in disgust. "I can't believe what I'm seeing." He muttered.

"Members of the jury, why don't you go over and join the celebration?" SSBFreak asked.

The nine jury members got up and went over to join the finalists, some running over and others casually walking over. Most surrounded the two finalists and offered their congratulations to them.

"And, to make it a full reunion, let's bring out the pre-merge boots as well." SSBFreak added. Sally, Anke, Zeg, Tomato, Fran-CINE, Robert, Mongo, Kenal and Chloe emerged onto the stage and saw who had won. Needless to say, many were surprised.

"I can't believe she actually managed to pull it off." Mongo said, a little surprised.

"Indeed. I thought her attitude would have been her undoing." Kenal added.

"She was a tough competitor, wasn't she?" Tomato asked.

"Yeah. No real complaints here." Zeg shrugged.

"If my weapons weren't deactivated…" Fran-Cine muttered to herself.

As the twenty contestants gathered on stage, most to congratulate the winner and runner-up, SSBFreak looked at a nearby camera. "And so ends the fourth season of Survivor: Central Hub. Alliances were made, torn apart and put to the ultimate test as some of our most-ruthless players battled it out throughout the competition. In the end, there could only be one, and the last one standing was a ruthless player that used strength and loyalty of others." He said. "Angela is the winner of the season, showing that keeping people loyal is crucial to this game. There are times where backstabbing allies will only ruin your own chances, and Angela knew that, so it paid off for her in the end. The ruthlessness of her character paid off in the end, and she is the Sole Survivor for this season."

Stepping further away from the camera, SSBFreak continued. "Join us next time, where twenty people from the past four seasons will return for another chance to win a million dollars. Some have changed, some have not, but you will remember them all." He explained. "Which returning player will win with this second chance we have given them? Tune in to the next season to find out: Survivor Central Hub: All Stars!"

**Voting History:**

**Angela – Amy, Brock, Corey, Danglars, Samantha and Tempo**

**Gary – Erica, Kendall and Riddle**

Author's Notes: Well, we've reached the end of another season and, in my opinion, my best-written one yet. I enjoyed writing for all of the characters and I look forward to future seasons with other people's OC's as well. I'm glad that I got enough people to audition because it means that there are people interested in what I write. Anyway, on to the results...

**Angela, the Winner...**

Angela was a fun character to write for. I wanted to portray her as a villain pre-merge, in control of a power alliance (that her own alliance-members had doubts about), controlled all of the votes pre-merge that she went to (even though Mongo made her waste the idol, she still went), and was someone that the underdog alliance was trying to take down (without much success, since Danglars was the only member of said alliance that made the merge). Then, when the merge hit, Angela was portrayed as more of a hero because she lost ally after ally and got a severe wake-up-call to throw her game into high gear.

Going into this, I wanted a negative person to win this time. After determining the pre-merge boots, this left me with Angela, Kendall and Samantha, and I knew that I could make Angela the most-acceptable winner without changing her character TOO much. It helps that she's also a challenge threat, something that I haven't had win yet either, so it's pretty much two birds with one stone.

In the end, Angela kept people loyal to her and got enough votes to blow Gary out of the water. She is by-far the most-negative winner I've had yet, and I'm sure everyone will agree with me on that. Unfortunately, this means that I won't be re-using her again unless I bring the winners back, but I had a good time with her. Thanks to Wildfox for auditioning with her.

**Gary, the Runner-Up...**

Gary was the perfect answer to Angela, and when I compared the characters, I knew I had the best final two I could get. Some of you may not have been fans of Gary because he made it to the end without doing anything, but that's his character, never bothering to strategize and just let things happen. Gary was Angela's perfect counterpart in several ways...

- Gary was a fountain of never-ending positivity and optimism, while Angela clearly isn't.  
>- Angela was a fierce player that used strategy often, while Gary was laid-back and let his alliance members do all the thinking.<br>- Angela was the leader of her alliance while Gary was the sidekick of his.

The only thing I'll admit that they have in common is that both Angela and Gary were challenge threats, so making them a final two made sense to me in the long run. That being said, because of his lack of strategy, Gary didn't really have a chance to win for me, and I'm sure most people predicted that Angela would beat him in the end. That's why I didn't make it close.

**Next Season...**

Next season is just starting for me. I got the cast finalized, most of the bootlist set and the Intro is written. Hopefully, once my schoolwork dies down a bit, I'll be able to write more. I've already got a few early things planned and I think I'll enjoy writing it. Here's what to expect...

- An All Star cast  
>- 20 fancharacters on two tribes<br>- Five representatives from each of the previous four seasons  
>- Cross-season alliances with both heroes and villains<br>- Plenty of blindsides and unexpected eliminations  
>- Hopefully longer Ponderosas<p>

**Season Six...**

Okay, I know it's a long way off, but I've got some ideas for Season Six and you guys are free to audition anytime and I'm always open to accepting more auditions. I'm still not sure how many people I'll be putting into this season, but I'll take whatever application form I can get. Remember to send your applications to me in a NOTE. You'll find the form in the final chapter of Season Two.


End file.
